Dragon's Twilight
by PyrothTenka
Summary: They have werewolves and vampires, why not dragons? This is my idea of what would happen if you tossed dragons into the mix. Keeping all cannon couples, and not introducing any new vampires/werewolves as major characters. Rated T to be safe.
1. Kit's First Day of School

***~*~****A/N –** _Alright, so... I'm back. I don't know how long, but I'm really liking this piece of fiction. I really hope to finish it. I've got a lot of it written out in advance, so it'll be a while before I'll stop posting._

_Now, a few words about the story. I intend to keep all the cannon couples, and to stick as close to the story line as I can. This starts right before the beginning of the second book. (Which I didn't figure out until after I started writing it. Curse you Bella, having your birthday in September...)_

_My characters have their own love interests, which will NOT be vampires. I don't intend on introducing any new vampires or werewolves, at least not as major characters._

_My purpose was to see what would happen if you threw some dragons in there with the vampires and werewolves. So, the dragons in this are: Kit, Damian, Jaden, Kiandra and Naka. Kohath (don't ask, I named him like 5 years ago and his name is stuck) and Kari are human._

_Each chapter is told from a different point of view, part of my writing this was to experiment with the first person point of view. I just couldn't stand writing from only one person's perspective for so long. I love my other characters too much. They need spotlight too._

_Some people have multiple chapters. You will notice Kit and Kari make up most of the story, they just tend to have the best eyes to look through._

_**Disclaimer:** I do not own Twilight or it's characters, nor do I make any claim to them. They belong to Stephenie Meyer.  
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_So now, without further ramblings, I give you: Dragon's Twilight._***~*~**

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**Dragon's Twilight**

**KIT:**

I stared hard at my brother, warily watching his every move as he sat down stiffly across from me. He stubbornly ignored the people around us, which was better than his usual behavior of glowering at them. I relaxed slightly when he glanced at me before grimacing and focusing on his food. I returned my attention to the girl next to me. Linda, I remembered.

"..classes do you have next Kit?" Linda was asking curiously. A small crowd of people had come to see me the shy new girl and her surly brother, and I was enjoying it. It wasn't often that I had the opportunity to talk with so many people. I had lived with my family before this in the wilderness, a place my mother much preferred over more densely populated areas. I had always been curious about other people, a unique trait in my family, and when my mother had decided that it was time for her children to experience a bit of the real world I had jumped at the opportunity. Even if it was to a small town like Forks. I'd never seen so many people in one place, it made me wonder what people thought a large city looked like.

The idea intimidated me. So, for now, I would adjust to Forks before I tried something bigger. I was just glad I'd managed to convince my parents to enroll me in high school. They hadn't been too keen on the idea, their condition had been if I convinced my brother to come with. They had not realized exactly how much I had my brother wrapped around my little finger. So there I sat, in an actual High School, in an actual lunch, talking with a multitude of strange new people. And across from me sat my none too happy brother, Damian, who tried his best to just ignore everything.

He was on his best behavior. He knew that I was happy to be here, and he didn't want to ruin the first day for me. His complaints would come later, after school.

"Hmm... I have algebra, and gym next." I told her.

"What about your brother?" Another girl asked. She was a junior, in the same class as my brother. She had followed him to the cafeteria, refusing to be put off by his cold attitude towards her. She had been eying him thoughtfully, much to my amusement. Apparently she found him attractive, I almost felt sorry for her. Damian would never see her in that way. Damian had a strong dislike of people. She had already figured out that he wouldn't answer her, and had been directing her questions at me instead.

"Uhm," I replied frowning, "I'm not sure. Damian?"

He looked up at me and scowled, I smiled back apologetically and he sighed. "Biology and History." He muttered, looking back down at his food. I smiled, he was really too much fun to annoy. I wouldn't push him too much today, he was being very good for me, but I couldn't help but tease him a little.

The girl pouted, "Ah, I have Trigonometry and Spanish."

I forced myself to keep a straight face at Damian's soft sigh of relief. He was already almost at his limit resisting the urge to snap at the girl. "Ah, that's too bad." I murmured hoping I sounded sincere.

"So you have Algebra next, Kit?" Luis asked. He was the one boy that hadn't shied away from our table after Damian glared at him. Damian would have done more than just glare if he'd thought I'd have let him get away with it, but I'd silenced his almost growl before it left his throat with a glare of my own.

"Uh-huh." I answered taking a bite of cafeteria lasagna. It wasn't what I was used to eating, but it wasn't all that bad. Damian had taken one bite, and would not have eaten more except, chewing and swallowing made it so he didn't have to talk. He was all for not talking.

Luis smiled, "That's great so do I. May I walk you to class?" He offered politely.

Damian's head snapped up to glare at him, but only for a moment before his eyes slid back to me, then back down to his plate. He grumbled to himself too quietly for anyone else but me to hear. "Stupid humans. Touch Kit and I'll tear your arms out..."

"Oh, would you? That's so nice of you to offer." I answered Luis ignoring Damian. He had always been over-protective of me. In all honesty, he was attracting more attention from the opposite gender than I was. His long black hair was pulled back to keep it out of his face, it contrasted with his light skin; and set off his charcoal black eyes.

I was jealous he got to keep his original eye and hair color, but my crimson hair and eyes would have stood out far too much and I was trying to just be average. Maybe slightly better than average. Right now my hair was a neutral brown that would shine with fiery red highlights in the sun, a compromise I allowed seeing as it was only sunny about five days out of the year here. Today was not an exception.

It didn't help Damian any that his cold attitude and over-protective nature attracted girls like flies to honey. Was I too selfish to take pride in the fact that my big brother only had eyes for me? Probably. I didn't care though, any of the girls would gladly take my place just not be his sister, and I found it all too amusing. If they knew the real Damian they would run screaming in fear. I smiled at that thought.

As I smiled a face at another table caught my attention. It was a boy. One that most girls would find attractive, but I found him eerily too perfect. My instincts kicked in and I saw it for what it was. His face was a trap, and he was a predator. A hunter of humans. My smile faded as the boy quickly glanced away continuing his conversation with the girl beside him, about their next class together. My keen ears could hear them across the room, but I didn't hear anything unusual.

I glanced away from them, not wanting to appear too interested, and turned the image of his face over in my head as I pretended to be apart of the conversation at my table. Pale, paler even than Damian. Unnaturally perfect features... golden eyes.

My mind flickered to the possibility of another dragon. A gold one. I'd never seen a golden dragon before; but as I glanced casually back over to him, I quickly threw that assumption out. Even though it was theoretically possible for a dragon to have unnaturally perfect features like that, they wouldn't. Dragons' main purpose was to blend in, and that was not blending in.

"Kit?" Damian's voice broke me from my thoughts and I quickly returned my attention to him before he could follow my gaze to see what I was staring at. If he even suspected another predator anywhere near us he'd go berserk. And he _would_ recognize him as a predator.

"Ah, sorry. I was just thinking of what my next class would be like." I lied getting my food and tray together as if preparing to leave, "We should head out early. You know, get a good seat."

Damian raised an eyebrow at my weird behavior, but didn't argue. He had already been fed up with the girls eying him like some sort of prize at a fair and was eager to leave.

I made sure to walk out the exit farthest away from the strange predator boy. There had been two girls next to him, another one with pale perfect features and gold eyes, another predator like the boy. The other one was obviously human. I worried about the one human, sitting between the two predators. I'd have to keep an eye out for her, make sure she wasn't in any danger.

My brother left me reluctantly as we headed to our separate classes. I'd have loved to see how he acted in a classroom environment, but we were in different grades, different classes. Biology, I mused, it means he'd have to have a lab partner. I imagined him having to work with someone and couldn't even fathom it. I felt great pity for the poor person picked to be his lab partner.

My next class, algebra, was considerably less exciting. We had been home-schooled by our parents since we were young, our education was already past anything this school would teach us. I sighed, and walked through the classroom door, resigned to my fate of boredom through the next hour.


	2. Kari's First Day

***~*~ **_**A/N – **__Okay, so onto chapter 2: As previously stated, this is a different perspective from Kit. This is Kari, who is human. _

_Yes, I know, her clumsiness does seem a bit ripped off from Bella, but at the time I wasn't thinking that. Her clumsiness is already part of the story, so I can't really change it. I'm not even sure I want to change it. I like it. _

_Well, I hope you like it too. Here's Kari._***~*~**

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**KARI:**

I was late to class. I was always late to class, especially the one after lunch. I'd tripped with my food tray on my way to the table and had spilt milk down my shirt. Fortunately I was used to my clumsiness and kept several changes of clothes in my locker. I just changed shirts after lunch and was now on my way to class, making a conscious effort to not trip on my way there and sprain my ankle. Again.

I hoped my face wasn't too red with embarrassment as I slipped into the classroom. I glanced at the teacher, but he merely waved me to the last empty seat in the back of the room and I gratefully hurried out of sight. I took my seat at the lab table setting my bag on the ground. I hesitated a moment before nudging the back pack with it's potentially dangerous loops away from where my feet might go.

It was only after the teacher had settled back into his lecture of introduction that I looked up to see my classmates. I was relieved to see no one staring at me. Perhaps they were all used to my clumsiness by now and came to expect it. I glanced over at my lab partner and nearly had a heart attack.

He wasn't looking at me, as he stared boredly out the window; but I already knew who he was. He was the new heart throb all the girls in our class were atwitter about. My friend Anne had already described him to me in extensive detail. Including her plans for a shopping trip over the weekend for a new wardrobe planned at catching his interest.

Great. Trust my luck to put me in the most potentially embarrassing situation ever. Science labs and gym were my two most hazardous subjects, not only would I nearly kill myself repeatedly this year but I'd do it sitting right next to the most popular boy in our class. Perfect. My high school life was doomed.

I sighed, resigned to my fate as I folded my arms and laid my head on the desk. At least he had a reputation for avoiding conversation. I didn't have to suffer myself to be social. I really didn't know what to say to him.

His quiet reputation lived up to it's name as we spent nearly the whole class in silence. It wasn't till near the end, when the teacher handed us locks and assigned us lab drawers that we broke our silence. The teacher was handing me my lock, when my fingers slipped and I dropped it. It landed with a soft thunk on the back of my other hand.

I bit back the cry of pain and tears as I snatched my injured hand back to my chest. I picked up the lock and hastily scribbled the drawer number on my notebook, hoping no one saw. The teacher hesitated, but decided I was fine and moved onto the next pair. Beside me I heard a soft chuckle.

My face burned as I attached the lock to the drawer under the desk, and hastily gathered up my books. The rest of the class had already left once they received their locks, and I hurried to follow before I made even more of a fool of myself.

As I stood, I'd forgotten about my back pack. My foot caught in the strap and I fell. I heard a loud bang and suddenly I was on the floor. The world around me spinning. I could hear people talking around me but couldn't make sense out of it.

I felt strong arms try to lift me up and I panicked. "No, no, I'm fine. I can walk..." I insisted, my voice sounded slurred as I struggled out of the arms to stand on my own. The arms didn't try to stop me.

As I teetered to my feet, my world immediately spun violently again and I could feel myself falling. The strong arms caught me before I could hit the floor. I stopped struggling and allowed myself to be carried.

I was aware of a dull throb in my head growing steadily worse and I was almost certain I had a concussion. Again. If I tried to walk like this I'd just embarrass myself more.

As the pain sharpened and my head cleared a little, I was more aware of my surroundings as I was carried down the halls towards the nurses office. I glanced hesitantly up at the person carrying me, already fearing the worst. I was right.

I groaned to myself as I dropped my gaze careful to not upset my throbbing head. He stayed silent as always as he made our way to the nurses office. A voice called out that made him stop and stiffen.

"Damian!" The girl's voice called out in shock. I could feel him wince at the accusation in her tone, and hear the foot steps of the girl approaching. "Just WHAT did you do to that girl?!?"

He sighed, "Nothing, Kit. She fell, and I was taking her to the nurses office." I opened my eyes to look at the girl as she stared back at my face. What she saw must have alarmed her as her eyes widened. I closed my eyes quickly before I could see her pity me.

"How... thoughtful." Kit spoke as if the words felt awkward speaking them to her brother. I guessed it wasn't a common thing for him to carry injured girls. I felt myself wishing I could just disappear.

He grunted in response, "Not really. I was just the only one left capable of carrying her."

He sounded really annoyed. "Uhm, it's alright now. I can walk myself. You can put me down." I spoke quietly. He didn't even hesitate as he moved to put me on my feet.

"Damian, don't you dare!" Kit scolded stopping him. "She's very seriously injured, you be a gentleman and take her all the way to the nurses office right this minute."

I was surprised at the tone in her voice, even more surprised when I felt him lift me back up into his arms in obedience. He grunted annoyed, but allowed Kit to lead the way to the nurses office.

"I'm Kit, by the way, Damian's little sister. What's your name?" She asked me cheerfully. She was like the complete opposite of her brother. Talkative.

"Kari." I answered slowly.

"It's nice to meet you Kari. Do you happen to know who my brother's lab partner is?" I could feel his arms stiffen around me, and I got the impression that he didn't want her to know.

"Uhm, shouldn't he be the one to answer that?" I asked confused. I owed him for being such a klutz, protecting his privacy was the least I could do.

Kit made a face, "Yeah, but I doubt he will." She eyed him questioningly but he shook his head. "See?"

I took a deep breath, "Well, if he doesn't want you to know then I don't think I should tell you." I told her, "Sorry." I added as an after thought when her eyes narrowed. She smiled, seeming to forgive me.

"No, it's alright. I'll just get someone else to tell me." She assured me. I sighed, she was right. Someone else would tell her. I tried at least.

We reached the nurses office not long after, and I cringed at the nurses why-am-I-not-surprised sigh. "You're early Kari. Trying to get a head start on the year?"

"Sorry." I spoke quietly, my face turning red again. "I fell and clipped my head on a table. I think. Probably just a concussion."

The nurse sighed as she led us to the back where there was a bed. Damian set me down and stepped away as if to leave. Kit snatched the back of his jacket and stopped him.

"Are you sure you're okay Kari?" Kit asked.

"Yeah I'll be fine. Go ahead and go to class, I don't want you to be late because of me..." I assured them. The nurse handed me a cold pack wrapped in a paper towel for my head.

"If you're sure..."

"I am. Go..."


	3. Kit's Gym Class

***~*~ **_**A/N – **__You know what? I totally don't care what Bella, Edward and Alice's school schedule was like that second year. I was too lazy to look it up, so I just made up something to move along the story._

_Also, I don't really like writing the original characters. I feel like I can't do them the same justice as Stephanie Meyer does. So if they feel off, I'm sorry. I honestly tried. _***~*~**

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**KIT:**

I sighed as I turned and let go of Damian's jacket. Kari, eh? A possible friend for my brother, or at least that's what I was hoping. He didn't show any sign of fondness for the girl, but it was hard to tell with Damian. He never showed fondness for anyone that wasn't family. Oh well.

I turned towards my gym class, waving good bye to Damian as he made his way to History. Gym. Should be pretty boring. I would have to force myself to play at a level comparable to humans, but I wasn't much of a competitive person to begin with. I was not above losing a few games to keep myself inconspicuous.

I was already late to class, so I didn't hurry as I made my way to the gymnasium. It wouldn't hurt me to be any later, and I was busy lost in thought about what I was going to do about my brother and making his school life more enjoyable. If he decided to quit, I'd have to quit too, and I really didn't want that.

I was toying with the idea of suggesting the wrestling team to him, he'd probably enjoy beating up on humans on a regular basis, but I doubted that would be a good idea. He had enough trouble not killing them when he wasn't allowed to hit them.

I walked into the gym class, oblivious to the people around me as I made my way to the teacher. The class was lined up as the teacher was assigning them into four man teams. I walked up to the teacher. "Sorry I'm late, little family emergency." I apologized.

The teacher nodded absentmindedly, "Yeah yeah, go over there with Swan and the Cullens." he pointed over his shoulder. I nodded to him and turned in that direction. I took one step and froze.

Pale, perfect features and golden eyes stared up at me from the group of three the teacher had indicated. I hesitated, but there was nothing to be done. At least now I might be able to find out more about them.

I finally put a name to what they were as I came closer to them. They were cold, heat sensing was a trait all dragons had, and they had no heart beat. Cold ones. Vampires. I fought back a shudder.

The girl was in more danger than I'd previously thought. Vampires were cold and vicious, only preying on humans, killing was second nature to them. I'd come across them once before, they were slightly more common in the wilderness than people.

I'd been laying out in the sun, dragons greatly enjoyed a good nap in the sun, in human form of course. Always in human form whenever possible my mother taught us. Damian hadn't been with me. A fact he greatly resented. He'd been out with the twins, our younger siblings, getting breakfast.

I almost didn't hear them coming, the sunlight was so very nice, and I never worried about an animal attack. By the time I heard them they were practically on top of me. There were two of them. A male and female.

Before I could react, the male had me pinned to the ground, his teeth coming at my throat. I had no idea exactly how dangerous those teeth were at the time. I could only judge by the insane strength holding me down that allowing him to continue would be a very bad idea.

And then... I fought back. They hadn't been expecting that. I'd shifted into dragon form and tossed the male through three trees before the other one had realized what had happened. The male came back barely even scraped, and the two of them circled me warily.

I realized I was going to have to use more than strength to defeat them. I shifted back into my more maneuverable half dragon form. Dragon form was strong, but awkward when fighting small and fast enemies. My brother favored fighting in a form that mixed the advantages of both human and dragon. We were a little weaker, and our scales not as tough, but we were fast, and agile. You didn't have to be strong if you knew how to apply force properly. And physics was always one of my families favorite subjects.

My brother and I were especially into the physical application of it. I was suddenly glad for those long hours I'd spent watching him experiment with the half dragon form, and after a while copying and eventually joining him. We sparred often, he was always better than me, but I had the advantage because he would never go all out on me.

These enemies wouldn't hold back. I didn't either.

When I arrived home, Damian had been livid. I had a broken arm, and was bruised and battered all over. He demanded I take him back to where I had literally torn the monsters to pieces. When we got there, the pieces were moving... reassembling themselves.

Damian took less time than I did to tear them into pieces again, they still didn't stop moving. So as a last effort, I breathed fire on them. I didn't breathe fire often, it was a fire hazard living in the wilderness; but it seemed to do the trick. Damian sent me home to rest while he took care of scattering the ashes. He didn't come back until the next morning to report that they were truly dead.

I couldn't help but shiver at the memory. However, one thing bothered me. Those vampires had had blood red eyes. Not golden ones. I pondered the implications of this as I took a seat on the floor as far as I could politely manage from them.

The boy smiled at me warmly. "Hello, my name is Edward." His voice sent shivers down my spine. So disarmingly sweet. A voice a human would never expect to be a killer. I didn't think I'd made my reaction visible, but there was a slight tightening to his smile that made me make a mental note to hide it better.

I didn't smile back as I replied. "My name is Kit." I carefully kept my gaze to his face as I ran through a possibility of ways to separate him from the human girl he was sitting next to. His next meal no doubt, but not if I could help it. If I could just...

He laughed, "She's so perceptive, Alice. It's almost like she can read my mind." He winked at the other predator girl as he reached over and pulled the human girl closer to him. I tensed, ready to intervene, a low growl, but he held up his hand defensively.

"Wait." He spoke softly, he was now speaking too quietly for anyone nearby to hear. "I promise no harm will come to Bella, and I'm not making her do anything she doesn't want to do. I can see that words are useless on you; and since you're so perceptive, I'll just show you. I haven't been able to hide anything from you yet, so let's not pretend and be honest with each other."

The human, Bella, glanced between me and Edward catching onto what he was saying. She closed the distance between herself and the vampire, wrapping her arms around his waste and leaning against his shoulder. I froze in place. I wanted to stop her, to scream at her for being so stupid, but it wasn't my place. She smiled at me, "Don't worry, Edward and Alice won't hurt me."

My eyes narrowed. "You don't know that."

"Yes, I do." Bella insisted stubbornly. Edward chuckled.

"I've been trying to tell her that myself." He told me sighing. "She does know though, about Alice and me."

I didn't reply as I watched the two of them. It was disturbing. There was no malice in his actions as he took her hand in his and intertwined their fingers. She blushed slightly, but didn't shy away when he leaned forward to kiss her softly on the forehead. It was all very unsettling to my stomach, and then I realized why.

They reminded me of my parents. I looked away and fought the urge to gag. Edward laughed, and I turned to glare at him. My parents were in a similar situation as they. My mother was a dragon, and my father a human. It wasn't unusual for dragons to take humans as mates, according to my mother. It was actually the natural way of things. The dragon would meet a human who utterly captured their attention, they would devote themselves to them.

Dragons were mysterious creatures that influenced the world and people around them in weird ways. I'd never seen myself do it personally, but my mother did it all the time. Just by being around my mother, my father kept his youth, a normal human would have died long ago.

I tried to shove the mental images of my parents being lovey dovey out of my head. It was sick, and so very very wrong.

"I think she understands now." Edward spoke trying, but not very hard, to keep the amusement out of his voice.

I made a face at him. "And I'm just supposed expect this love of yours to absolve you of murder every time you eat?" I growled.

His face turned serious, "You were wondering about our golden eyes earlier." He spoke quietly. "Why they weren't red like the... the others."

I stayed quiet, my eyes narrowing at his words. There was something suspicious about them, I couldn't quite put my finger on. He winced, and that seemed to spark something as well.

He continued his speech. "The golden eyes are because we don't feed on human blood. It's not quite the same, animal blood, but it does seem to satiate our thirst enough for us to be safe... relatively... around humans."

I turned his words over in my head, there was something he was hiding from me, but his words were true. They didn't kill humans. How interesting. I wondered if my mother knew about these human-safe vampires. Probably. Actually, now that I thought about it, they were probably the whole reason she'd decided to move here.

"Now that we're being honest..." Edward started, getting my attention. "We also have a few questions to ask you about your family."

I frowned. "...such as?"

"We know what you are. What we'd like to know is why you're here?"

"You...know?" I asked surprised. The one thing I was confident in, was my ability to seem human. Even if I was a little off he shouldn't immediately identify me for what I was. Dragons were large flying fire-breathing lizards of legend. Nothing I had done would lead to that conclusion.

Edward nodded, "Yes, I've never met a dragon before. I doubt even Carlisle has."

I swallowed, "Uh, that's not... I'm not..." I groaned as I placed my head in my hands, "Mom's going to kill me..." Keeping our existence secret was the number one priority of all dragons. To have messed up so much, to not even realize I'd revealed the secret? This was unacceptable. Mom was right, I wasn't ready to intermingle with humans. How many others knew? Did the humans? Did they even suspect? What did I do wrong?

"Wait, don't blame yourself. You didn't do anything wrong." Edward spoke concerned. "If I'd had known your secret meant that much to you I'd have kept it to myself. It's not your fault."

"How is it not my fault?" I demanded. He shouldn't even have been able to figure it out if he had had a hundred years to study my every action and time to research it; let alone figure it out from one brief conversation!

He hesitated seeming to debate something in his head then sighed, "Well, I did say we were going to be honest. It's not your fault I can read minds." he explained. I froze. He eyed me warily.

"Oh." I said simply, then comprehension came. "Ooooh!" His expression changes while I thought over his responses. How he knew... everything.

I scowled. "That's dirty."

He grimaced, "It's not something I can turn off, or control. It just happens." Then he added as I thought it over, "No, not all vampires can, just me, and one other that I know of. His power works differently though."

I struggled with a good way to respond to that but found it difficult. "I... I don't like having you in my head." I stated finally.

"Most people don't." He agreed. "Now, my question? Why you and your family are here?" He prompted.

"Wouldn't you already know?" I glared at him.

"No, you haven't thought it yet. I can only read what you're currently thinking."

Now that was interesting. So I had to think it for him to know it? I'd certainly keep that in mind. "I haven't thought it because I don't really know. Only my mother knows why we really do anything. I know why I'M here though." I didn't explain further, he already knew my answer anyways and I didn't like saying it out loud. It was rather childish and embarrassing.

"Perhaps our families should meet? I'd hate to think what would happen if your brother accidentally stumbled across one of us without warning first." Edward suggested.

"Yeah, that would be bad. Very bad." I agreed, "Meeting would be a good idea. As soon as possible. I'll introduce you to my brother as soon as class is over so he won't be surprised. My mother was probably planning on a meeting anyways."

"Hey, you kids pay attention!" The teacher shouted catching me by surprise. I'd almost forgotten we were in the middle of class.

"Certainly. We'll be sure to bring proper gym attire to class tomorrow." Edward spoke looking up at the teacher. The teacher stared at him for a moment before moving on and carrying on his lecture on the rules of gym.

I smiled, amused as we stayed quiet through the rest of gym class. It was mostly a lecture, and some jogging afterwords. We ran at a pace that was comfortable to Bella even though she tried to insist that we didn't have to wait for her. It's not like we could have gone at our own pace, so matching hers was no big deal. Besides, jogging with Bella was far more entertaining than jogging normally was. She kept tripping, Edward would always catch her arm and steady her before she fell, and it was interesting to see all the different ways a human could trip.

I wondered if I should start tripping to look more human. Perhaps, since it worked so well on Edward's attention, tripping would get me more attention from the male population. It might be worth the effort. If I could convince Damian to not kill him I'd like to try to have a boyfriend at least once. I noticed Edward was staring at me amused and I remembered he could read my thoughts. I smiled at him humorously.

"I'd never thought of that." He replied smiling as he glanced down at Bella, "You wouldn't happen to be tripping on purpose as an excuse for me to touch you, would you?" He asked with mock severity.

"No!" She protested blushing as her eyes widened and she tried to move so she was jogging farther from him but tripped in the process. Edward laughed as he stepped over and caught her before she could land on her face.

"Well it can't be helped, since you want me to hold you I'll just have to comply." He picked her up and proceeded to carry her.

"No! Stop! Put me down, Edward!" Bella protested loudly, trying futilely to squirm out of his arms.

I watched them amused, glancing at Alice who was beside me. "Are they always like this?"

"They're worse when they think no one can see." She replied her eyes dancing with amusement.

As gym was coming to an end, I quickly mapped out the way to our home for Edward in my head. We had two homes, one a house just outside of town, another a cave high in the mountains. We had a house because places like school and such required you to have an address. My father stayed at the house most of the time while the rest of us spent most of our time in the cave. It was a fairly quick flight between the two so we could get from one to the other without much issue. I showed him both, but arranged to meet at the cave home. It would be easier to have a proper meeting if there were less a chance of intrusion.


	4. Fudge Crinkle Cookies

***~*~ **_**A/N – **__Boo... this chapter is short. Sorry. I promise the next chapter will be longer._

_To answer Leon's question for everyone, yes I do intend to keep as close to the storyline as I feel I can while still writing a good story. So yes, Edward will be leaving, and Bella will go all comatose._

_Also, please review. Reviews make me happy. ;_; /sad pyroth_***~*~**

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**KARI:**

I'd stayed in the nurses office all through last period. History had never been my favorite subject anyways, all those dates and names tended to run together in my head. The nurse had agreed to let me stay after the biology teacher had come in to check on me and explained exactly how seriously I'd hit my head. I didn't like having to miss a whole class period, but I could see their concern was justified.

At least it saved me from seeing my friend Anne. I'd have to tell her about my lab partner, and I wasn't looking forward to that. She'd find out from someone else if I didn't tell her and it would be awkward if I'd had a chance to tell her but didn't.

She'd worry and be a little jealous, but she really didn't need to worry. I had no plans on the dark mysterious new kid, and he seemed just as content to ignore me. If I could keep my accidents to a minimum I just might make it through the year.

I considered switching lab partners with someone, I'm sure there would be more than enough willing traders. I wondered why his seat had been free to begin with. Maybe he'd been the second to last person? Whatever the reason,I quickly disregarded the idea of trading.

I thought back to the gossiping I'd heard from my friends, and then to his reactions to his sister's prying. He didn't like nosy people, and my friends would most certainly be nosy. I couldn't bring myself to subject him to that.

I was on my way out to where I would meet my friend Ian, my ride home, we lived right next to each other since we were kids; when I spotted him. He was there as I turned the corner around the gym building. Either class had let out early, or he'd ditched, the bell hadn't rung yet.

It wasn't my business either way, and I continued walking. His sudden appearance distracted me from my usual careful attention I paid to my feet while I walked and I suddenly stumbled. It surprised me when he stepped forward to catch my arm quickly, before I could fall. He waited wordlessly until I was steady before dropping his hand and stepping back to his place against the wall.

"Thanks." I spoke sheepishly my cheeks burning. He didn't answer, staring with his usual apathetic expression at the gym doors.

"Kari!" Came a familiar shout, and I couldn't help but smile as I turned to see my best friend hurrying towards me. "Are you alright?" Ah, he must have seen me almost fall.

"I'm fine." I reassured him sighing. "You get out of class early?" I asked changing the subject.

"Yes, teacher says there will be a review quiz tomorrow and wants us to go home and study for it." He made a face, as we started walking towards his car. I didn't look back at the silent figure standing motionless against the wall as we walked away. He disliked attention, and Ian would ask questions.

"We should study together for it." Ian suggested. He knew I was in his history class with him, and I nodded in agreement.

"Probably a good idea. Grandma misses you when you don't come over as often." I smiled, "I'm sure she'll even bake those cookies you love."

Ian perked up at the thought. "Mmm... Grandma Emma's home made fudge crinkle cookies. I'm so there."

I laughed as we got into his beat up old Honda Accord, and he started pulling out. I couldn't help but glance at my quiet lab partner once Ian was distracted with driving. I was surprised to find him watching us, but I quickly looked away.

"Claire will be happy." Ian was talking again now that his attention was free from backing up. "She loves it when I bring home Grandma Emma's cookies."

I smiled at the image of his little sister with cookies, my mind dismissing the image of the new boy from my head. "Yes she does."


	5. Oniisan

***~*~ **_**A/N – **__As promised, this chapter is longer, I felt bad about the shortness of the last chapter so I posted this one at the same time._

_Also, chapter posts will be slowing down now. I'm catching up to where I have everything written out, and school is starting soon as well. I'll probably be posting once a week instead of once a day. If I have the patience to wait that long._

**P.S. **_Reviews make me less patient to post my chapters and show you my story. XD_***~*~**

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**KIT:**

By the time gym ended, I was pretty tense trying to think of ways to stop Damian from attacking my new friends. I'd fight him, of course, but we'd never try to hurt each other seriously, and he was much better at incapacitating me than I was of him. It all really depended on if I could convince him to stop.

He wouldn't attack right away, too many witnesses at school, probably. Maybe. I'd have to make it clear that I wasn't being held captive by them or he might very well risk a little exposure to get me safe. There were clouds outside, as always, it wouldn't take much to convince the humans of a freak lightning bolt.

I saw the flicker of confusion cross Edwards face and I immediately stopped my train of thought. Oho... I found a secret I could keep. Yes, you can just go puzzle out my comment about lightning on your own, eavesdropper. Be thankful it's not Jaden, he's more dangerous in that sense.

He frowned as I pictured my little brother in my head. Green hair and eyes, he was usually in half dragon form, so that's the picture I conjured up. He was standing next to my little sister Kiandra, his twin, they were always together, I couldn't really picture them separately. She looked the same as him, but blue hair and eyes. Mother hadn't had much luck convincing them to stay in human form so they tended to switch to half dragon when she wasn't looking.

Outside, Damian was waiting for me. I'd already known he'd be there. What surprised me was that he was not looking towards the gym exit. He was staring out across the parking lot, frowning somewhat. I supposed that was a good thing, but It was very odd. Normally Damian would be watching for me, but he wasn't looking at me. Well at least it gave me time to get to him before he noticed the people behind me. I motioned them to stay while I moved quickly up behind him.

"Oniisan!" I called out cheerfully jumping up to wrap my arms tightly around his neck from behind. We'd lived in Japan for a while; as well as China and Korea. Most dragons spent at least some time Asia. There was a lot of draconic history there.

My brother loved it when I called him Oniisan; a term commonly used for older brothers. Unfortunately he also knew that it meant I was about to ask something difficult from him.

He stiffened. Had I caught him off guard? That was a first. Now I was really curious about what had been distracting him just a moment ago. His surprise faded quickly as my behavior and word registered. His eyes narrowed suspiciously as he unhooked me from around his neck turned to look at me. "...yes?"

I hesitated then spoke quickly before he could take his eyes off me to see what was behind me, "I made some new friends, they look suspicious, but please don't over-react..." I broke off as his eyes quickly flickered over my head and he tensed. A low growl rumbled from deep within his chest and I could almost see the scales forming under his clothing.

I reached up and grabbed his hair, and pulled his face back to look at me. It took all my strength, and even then in the end he let me move his head, but he wasn't so far into his frenzy to completely ignore me. That was good.

"Listen!" I hissed at him. His eyes flickered to Edward, a hate filled glare, but then he grudgingly turned back to me. "We are in a school filled with hundreds of human children. You can not fight here, understand?" My voice was still a hiss, my eyes narrowed to almost nothing, I'd let my eyes shift back to their normal crimson color so he'd know exactly how serious I was. "If you fight, I will have to try and stop you."

It was a long moment before he reluctantly nodded. He didn't like the idea of us fighting each other seriously anymore than I did. "...friends?" He asked through clenched teeth as he forced himself to shift back to human. It wasn't a question to verify a fact, it was a question of my sanity.

"Yes." I answered simply staring back at him, my eyes still red. He didn't answer, and I looked him up and down uncertainly. He needed a little more convincing. He was probably planning to ambush them as soon as they were alone.

I turned back to Edward, my suspicions confirmed by the tense anxiety on his face. Bella's eyes widened at my red eyes but I paid that no attention. It took getting used to, I knew. Edward caught my look and thoughts and quickly composed himself, stepping forward.

"This is Edward." I told my brother, eying him warily.

"Hello." Edward spoke fighting to keep his voice from the eerie soft tone he had tried to use on me. It had set me on edge, it would do the same to Damian. It did. His eyes narrowed even more and I could feel the electricity in the air increase.

"And this is his sister Alice." I went on. Damian's eyes flickered to Alice, who smiled and nodded. Damian didn't respond, his eyes moving back to Edward. Damian saw Edward as the bigger threat of the two, he had a small - very small - soft spot for little girls. He'd still attack and kill them if they became a threat, but he was only wary of her as opposed to outwardly hostile of Edward.

"And their friend Bella." I finished. Damian blinked in surprise when his eyes followed my gaze to the human. He hadn't noticed her there before. Bella smiled and waved shyly at him. He didn't seem to quite know what to make of her so just nodded and returned to glaring at Edward.

I turned back to my brother, "Edward and his family," I emphasized the word family so he knew that there were more of them. "have lived here for many years peacefully. They would very much like to keep it that way. As would I."

"It's not up to you." Damian growled.

"Which is why I've invited them to come over and meet our family. So we can clear up all this misunderstanding." I told him evenly. "I'm sure Mother will know exactly what to do."

He winced, "I'm sure she would." I frowned at his expression, worried about what he would be thinking and give away to Edward.

Damian was quiet as he thought over my words. "I can't say I'm thrilled with the idea of you giving away so many secrets all at once," He started. He was impulsive, and quick to jump to conclusions, but he could be made to see reason if he had time to think it over, "but I can see where it might be best to let Naka decide." Naka was our mother, he tended to use our parents' given names instead of honorifics.

He sighed in disappointment, as he relaxed most of his tenseness and shifted fully back to human. I did the same, smiling in relief. His disappointment was at the lack of a fight. He craved fighting much like I craved attention and vampires craved blood. Not quite as strong as vampires, but still pretty potent. Each of us had a craving, though I hadn't quite figured out the twin's craving. If I had to guess I'd say mischief, but I had to figure out if their cravings were the same or different.

Damian was very good at controlling his craving, something I had never been good at. Fortunately mine was slightly more benign, and Damian was always willing to give me attention. Part of why we got along, I satisfied his craving when we sparred, and he satisfied mine with the attention he'd give me. He was a very good teacher, surprisingly patient.

My thoughts turned to the present when Damian snaked his arm around my shoulder and guided me towards his car. "However," He spoke, a soft growl returning to his voice, "This does not mean I will allow you to be friends. They are still dangerous."

I scowled at him, "That's not for you to decide." I repeated his own argument back at him. He didn't reply.

I tried to pull away, but his grip was firm and his expression stubborn. I sighed, deciding it was best to drop this argument. I'd won a big one today, an important one. I'd let him have this one, one that I didn't think I'd win even if I tried.

I turned back to Edward, Alice, and Bella as Damian continued to the car. "I'll see you guys soon!" I called out waving. They waved back uncertainly, and I silently promised Edward I'd work on my family's side, get them to see reason. He nodded then a questioning and worried look crossed his face as he glanced at Bella.

I puzzled over that for a moment, he couldn't be asking about whether we'd leave her alone, he could see that in our minds. Even Damian, I knew, wouldn't even think of pulling the two of them apart. He probably never even realized her potentially dangerous situation with the vampires.

The questioning grew more pronounced and he mouthed something to me... _bring... Bella...with...to_- Oh! He wanted to know if she'd be safe to come to the meeting. I thought that over.

She _should_ be okay, I thought to him. I'll warn the twins away, and if they do anything stupid you're free to defend yourself and your family. I'd mentally included Bella as his family expecting Edward to like that, but his mouth tightened into a line. He didn't look happy. I wondered what that meant.

At that point we'd reached the car and I sighed as I allowed Damian to usher me into the passenger side. I reassured Edward, and myself, that the twins would probably not try anything seriously dangerous with Bella there. That they would try something there was no doubt, but they never purposely put people in danger.

I waved goodbye to them as Damian drove us out of sight. Now, all I had to do was explain to the rest of my family.


	6. They would so Blow the School Up

***~*~ **_**A/N – **Hey look! I made it a day and a half, almost. I finished writing a new chapter so I figured I was safe to post a chapter. I'm assuming you guys don't mind my terrible impatience. I'm so terrible at waiting. :( _

_Yay, the first chapter from SOMEONE ELSE'S perspective! I love the twins... I only picked Jaden cause I wanted to write from a boy's perspective seeing as all the other chapters have been from girls' PoV's._

_I'm seriously saddened by the small amount of reviews I've been getting. (btw Leon, TGG, shygirl, Delphie... I love you all. Have some gold stars.) So I've decided to bribe you. See, I'm a little bit of an artist, and I have a few really cute drawings of my characters I'd be willing to show you. If you submit a signed review, I'll reply and send you a link to a picture. Leon says they're well worth a review._

_The picture for this chapter will be one of the twins, seeing as they're introduced in this chapter. Remind me to send you that link Leon, I don't think you've seen this picture yet._

_Say anything you want in your review, if you need ideas; I'd very much love to know who your favorite characters are. I'm dreadfully curious.  
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_So... **PLEASE REVIEW!**_

-_love, Pyroth_***~*~**

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**JADEN:**

I waited impatiently for Kiandra to start. Damian and Kit had just left the house and were on their way through the woods; there'd only be a small moment where the forest was dense enough to where we could ambush them properly. I couldn't see my twin, but I knew she was there running parallel to me on the other side of them.

They hadn't noticed us yet, at least not as far as we could tell, and I was waiting for Kia's cue to start. We'd spent all afternoon coming up with this plan to surprise them. It was pretty boring without them at home, so we wanted to make the most of the few hours after school we had with them before they had to leave us again in the morning.

We resented the fact that they could go off to school, and we couldn't. Something about us not being able to control ourselves. We could too control ourselves. We'd only put a little bit of pepper in the teachers coffee; or just trip the school bully a little bit into some mud. It's not like we'd blow the whole school up. Probably. Though it might be entertaining...

I shook my head, focusing on the task at hand. There was no physical sign Kia would give me to start, I just knew how she thought and I would know at the same moment she did when she decided the best time to strike was. It unnerved people they way we could work together without communication, and we liked it that way.

That time would be.... now. I began casting the spell as I altered course to intercept the ambush spot. I was casting my half of the spell, knowing that Kia was with me word for word casting her half. It would be complete just as we hit the ambush. Kit and Damian would never see it coming.

Except they did.

Our spells merged as we met and dropped down on our older siblings from above. The sticky web spell would slow them down enough for us to possibly win a melee fight with them. There was no real reason behind us wanting to ambush them, we just did. I just wanted to see their faces when we pinned them in the dirt, really.

Kit and Damian changed course fluidly, ducking from the near invisible path and entering the forest on opposite sides. Our spell fell harmlessly on vacant ground, coating it and the trees around it with a sticky white threaded gunk.

We moved quickly to jump back into the forest's shadows to recover, but Damian and Kit were faster. Damian erupted from the trees beside me and tackled me to the ground, as Kit did the same to Kia from the other side. We tried to fight back, but we knew it was useless. It was a short fight.

Within seconds we were pinned to the ground unable to escape from the much stronger arms of our siblings. We snarled in frustration.

"Let us up!" we whined in unison. I could feel Damian loosen his grip, and I knew me and Kia were both thinking the same thing as we considered another ambush. We both discarded it at the same time. It wasn't worth it now that the first attempt had failed.

"Do you two ever get tired of being so annoying?" Kit muttered

"Do you ever get tired of being so easily annoyed?" we asked smiling back sweetly. She growled throwing her arms up, as she turned and continued her way towards the cave. Damian went after her, and we weren't far behind.

"So how was school?" Kiandra prompted them curiously.

"Dreadfully boring I'm sure..." I chimed in. We were certain they would have had a much more fun time with us then a bunch of humans. We really didn't see what Kit's fascination with them was all about.

"Quite eventful actually." Kit answered, surprising us. We glanced at Damian, expecting him to contradict her. Surely he hadn't had as interesting a time. He wasn't crazy like Kit. He frowned slightly looking thoughtful. Our curiosity burned.

"Really?" Kia asked staring suspiciously at Kit, wondering if this was some kind of trick to get us to fall for her craziness.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You'll find out when we get home, I need to speak to Mom about it." Kit told us.

We exchanged glances. Something she needed to talk to Mom about? What could possibly have happened? We would have tried to pry an answer out of her right then, but Naka came through the trees ahead of us to meet us, saving us the trouble.

"Welcome home." She greeted us warmly. The knowledge of a thousand ancient secrets danced behind her red eyes. She looked very similar to Kit, though her hair was lighter, and she looked a few years older. Naka had long since perfected her shape-shifting. She was always exactly in the form she needed to be in at any particular time. We rarely saw her in her real form. It meant something had gone terribly awry if she was forced to take her draconic form.

"Did you have a good time at school?" She asked coming forward to give Kit a hug.

"Like you don't already know." Kit answered sighing. Naka moved on to give Damian a hug, and laughed lightly at Kit's comment.

"I don't actually. Oh, I know who you met, and that we're meeting them again, soon, but I don't know if you had a good time. I'm so dying to know! What's it like talking to someone who can read your mind? How potent is it? I need to know how on guard I have to be. What did you say to Damian to keep him from trying to tear them to pieces? Could Alice see you? I don't think she can..."

Kit frowned at that last question, "Alice isn't blind... at least she didn't seem blind..."

"Oh." Naka blinked thoughtfully, "Never mind that last question then. Just please tell me what happened?"

"We would like to know that as well." we spoke in the same sour tone. It was the tone we used when we thought the adults were keeping something from us. That Mom was curious, meant little, she was always curious about everything. The words they were using baffled us. Read your mind? What?

Kit sighed as she went into a long explanation of her day, it was as dull as we feared until she mentioned what she saw at lunch.

"That's when I first saw them," she spoke, glancing at Damian who had his eyes narrowed. "at lunch. The two of them sitting next to Bella. It was a blessing that Damian was too busy trying to ignore everything around him to notice." Damian growled low at that, but we all ignored him.

We all knew it was true, even him. Though me and Kia thought it would certainly have been a more interesting story if he had.

"I didn't know what they were at first. I just knew they were predators. You'll see when they get here, it's very obvious. Everything about them screams predator. Even their voice, I'll warn you now they can't control it very well, tries instinctively to put you at ease."

"What?" Kia demanded.

"What were they?" I clarified impatiently. We still didn't know what she was talking about.

"Remember that one day I came home beat up. Broken arm, bruised, wing half torn off?" Kit explained turning to us.

We hesitated, nodding. It had not been a pleasant memory, it had unsettled us to see our big sister in such bad shape. She was tough, untouchable. At least, that is what we had thought before that. Damian had been furious. The story she'd told us about the pale monsters with the red eyes suddenly came to our memories and we hissed in unison.

"The cold ones?"

Kit nodded, "Yes, though I didn't confirm this until I got close to them in my last class, gym. Noticing a lack of heat is not as easy as noticing heat. On top of that their eyes were gold and not red. If they had been red I'd have known the first time I saw them. What confirmed it was the lack of heat, or more the heat vacuum, I could feel when I got close to them, and the lack of a heart beat."

She was interrupted by our low growls, and she silenced us with a stern look.

"But they explained to me that they don't feed on humans, hence their gold not red eyes." Kit continued. "I don't know if that's true..." she trailed off glancing at Mom. Naka smiled nodding a confirmation of that fact.

"So, according to human etiquette, I had to spend the whole final hour of school with them. We'd been put into a four man group together. It was confusing for me, at first, when he talked to me. See, at first I thought their friend, Bella, she's human in case I didn't mention that, was their next meal. He was quick to set me right on that point." She made a face. "Apparently she's Edward's girlfriend."

"Eeeeewwww!!!" We both shrieked in utter disgust. Even Damian's eyebrows shot up, he hadn't known that before.

"So, do they like..." Kia choked off unable to say it. Forcing me to say it really.

"...k-kiss and stuff?" I finished her sentence. I'd have to get her back for making me say that four letter word.

Kit rolled her eyes, but nodded. "At least I wouldn't be surprised if they did. But that's not what was confusing. I didn't find out till later that it was because Edward was reacting to my every thought. It was disturbing to say the least!" She shuddered in memory. Her eyes snapped open to glare at Naka. "You could have warned me."

She chuckled. "And miss out on your reaction?"

Kit scowled, "So after we came to an understanding, we both decided it would be best if our families met. I assumed that was the outcome you wanted." She eyed Naka who was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Yes. It's exactly what I expected to happen." Naka assured her, "They'll be here in about an hour. Bella will insist on coming along, so I want you two on your best behavior." She spoke suddenly serious as she turned to face me and Kia. We tried to look offended; like we hadn't been planning a way to get Damian and one of them into a fight.

"She's a human, a particularly clumsy human, and very special to our other guests. If anything happens to her, they will be greatly upset. So I don't just want you to be on your best behavior, I want you to also watch out and make sure she doesn't hurt herself. She's very important to the future."

We exchanged glances. We knew Mother was serious when she talked about the future. We'd have to make our plans more carefully so they did not include the human girl.

We waited while Naka turned back to Kit and Damian and began asking more direct questions before we snuck off into the shadows to plan.


	7. Dragon Meet Vampire

***~*~ **_**A/N – **__Another chapter with the original characters... boo I hate writing these chapters. Oh well. You guys seem to love them._

_Also, I'm sorry to disappoint, but Naka is not going to be explained for a while. Like, I'm finally getting around to planning it to happen in chapter 12. I will say this though, her abilities are many, and stem from the fact that she is very, very, very old. Dragons don't get weaker as the age, ever. They only get stronger. Unfortunately getting older also means you begin to realize exactly how useless that immense strength is. _

_Naka is actually in a very difficult position. She's trying to enjoy these happy moments while she can, because sad times have to happen soon, and she will have to deal with her children; who will not understand why she didn't stop them. :(  
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_Anyways, next chapter is written from Damian's PoV. I'd very much like to know what you think of that. And your general opinions of my characters. Who's your favorite, least favorite, etc... **Please Review** and give your opinions._

_This chapter's review incentive is a really cute picture of Kit and Damian when they were little._***~*~**

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**Kit:**

I was nervous. I was the one who arranged the meeting, and since Naka would be concentrating on keeping her thoughts in line, I was in charge of introductions on our side. I paced the outside of the cave, Jaden and Kia were with me, focusing intently on the forest below for any sign of our visitors.

Dad would help me, but he would also be helping Naka with her thoughts. Apparently she needed him as a distraction in case her thoughts wandered. I didn't even want to think about what that meant. I made Damian promise he'd behave; provided they behaved he had added. I didn't have such sway with the twins, but I knew Naka's warning would keep them in line.

"I see them! I think..." Kiandra called out to me.

"Whoa, they are fast." Jaden added turning to the focus of Kia's attention.

"Faster than Damian?"

"Maybe."

"They are slowed down by that human girl."

"Not faster than Kit though."

"No, definitely not faster than Kit."

"Shush!" I snapped at them crankily as I scanned the forest. They were coming, I could see them about twenty miles out. I'd have seen them sooner if I'd been paying attention, the twins were still young and their senses not fully developed.

My eyes widened when I saw the twins crouch low and arch their wings to take off. I grabbed the back of their shirts to stop them. "What do you two think you're doing?"

"Going to greet them."

"Duh."

"No, I'm going to greet them. You two are going to wait here." I told them. There was a low growl behind me and I sighed. "Fine. Me and Damian are going to greet them. You two are still going to wait here."

They exchanged a glance, before scowling and turning back to me with a nod.

"You're so mean." Kia complained as I let them go.

"Yeah, we're just curious." Jaden pouted.

I ignored their comments as I crouched low to jump off the sheer cliff in front of us. We were all in half dragon form, except Dad of course. He only had one form. Naka also stayed in human form, her most common form. I assumed it was so she could be closer to Dad.

Damian was right behind me as I jumped off the cliff. We dove down, following the cliff face, and straight into the forest. We had to avoid open air whenever possible this close to civilization. Hikers and hunters were common, and we were obviously not birds to even the casual observer.

It was hard, not flying, but it was manageable. On exceptionally cloudy days we could go flying so long as we stayed above the clouds. It kept us sane.

We landed on the ground and took off down the mountain towards them on foot. We ran on all fours, it was faster than two legs for us, only a little slower than flying.

They stopped right before we reached them and we slowed to halt in front of them. They took in our scaled wings, horns, and tails as we took in their eyes, pale skin, and unnaturally perfect features. I had to make a conscious effort to not shudder.

One of the ones I didn't know, one that stood beside Alice, was covered in small scars, and held himself like he knew how to fight. He made me edgy. I could see Damian eying him warily as well.

"Hi." I spoke hesitantly staring at them, there were 7 vampires in total, and Bella on Edward's back. She began to slide down, but Edward stopped her.

"Yeah, we still have more traveling to do." I told her smiling. I hesitated then spoke to Edward. "Perhaps I should carry her? It's a rather treacherous climb, nothing you guys can't handle easily I'm sure, but I'm not sure Bella could hold on if you had to go upside down..." I pictured the cliff face for him and the angles that had me worried.

I assured him I'd never dropped anything while flying since I was little. When I used to purposely drop rocks on Damian's head. It had done more harm to the rock than Damian really.

He smiled at my memory and nodded slowly, "True, she would be safer with you." I could tell by his tone he didn't like admitting it.

"By the way, your siblings are following you." Edward spoke, helping Bella down. "Intent on catching you by surprise."

I sighed, "Of course they are." I held out my arms for Bella, "Damian will take care of them while we continue."

Damian snorted, "And leave you with the bloodsuckers? No. Not going to happen." I sighed again.

Bella hesitated, glancing between Edward and me. "How am I safer climbing with her?" She asked Edward. He chuckled.

"She's not going to be climbing." He explained.

"These wings aren't just for show, you know." I answered. Bella's eyes widened and she sputtered a protest, but a flash of heat from the trees to my right was all the warning I got before a green blur burst from the trees.

Jaden was bringing his knee forward towards my stomach, but I was faster. I was always faster. I grabbed his knee, redirecting his force around me as I dodged and swung him down into the ground. Hard. There was a loud crack as the ground gave way under the force of mine and my little brother's blow.

"Hello, little brother." I growled. Damian had Kia in a similar position.

"Awww... we just wanted to see them!" They cried out together.

I released Jaden, and shoved him towards the cave. "You've seen them. Now go wait at the cave or I'll tell Damian what you did last week."

Damian had just released Kia when he stiffened. "What?"

"Nothing! We're leaving!" The twins cried out in unison as they bolted for the cave. I heard Edward laugh.

"Which is more entertaining? My bluff, or the fact that I was right?" I asked.

"Neither. It was them wondering which incident last week you were referring to. They had at least three possibilities." He answered amused.

"Alright, enough distractions." I spoke before my curiosity could make me ask. "The rest are waiting for us. Bella? I promise I won't drop you. I'll even go slowly." I assured her, motioning her closer to me.

She glanced between Edward and me hesitantly. Edward smiled. "It's not too late for me to run you back home." He offered. Bella scowled at him as she walked right up to me and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"Alright. Let's go." She told me, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Just one last thing I almost forgot." I paused glancing at the vampires I didn't know. "Jasper?" I asked uncertainly, hoping I'd remembered the name right.

The one next to Alice stiffened, "...yes?" he asked confused.

"Mother said not to use your ability on us because it makes us go crazy and kill. Actually, what she said was a lot more complicated than that, but that's what it boiled down to." I said shrugging. "I don't know what she's talking about or what your ability is, but I will say this: when Mom gives a warning, it would be very unwise not to follow it."

Jasper nodded slowly. "Alright."

"Good, now, let's go. I'll take Bella by air, You can follow Damian up the cliff. I assume that's alright with you," I spoke turning to glare at Damian, "unless you're afraid I can't handle Bella..." I rolled my eyes and he snorted.

"I don't like it, but the idea is not completely objectionable." Damian replied.

"Alright then. See you guys up top." I told them cheerfully as I scooped Bella up into my arms, and jumped. Straight up through the trees fifty feet. I heard Bella stifle a scream.

"Sorry about that." I told her, landing on a tree branch. I hesitated, "You might want to close your eyes. We have to go down before we go up again, I'll try to go slow, but it's hard for me."

She answered with a nod, closing her eyes. I checked to make sure my grip on her was extra secure before I jumped again. This time up and out, there were no tree branches to land on here.

I was impressed. Bella didn't scream as I dove to gain speed. I caught the air with my wings and used the speed to climb. I slowed as I climbed, on purpose because I promised Bella I'd go slow. "If you want to look, the view is incredible..." I offered her. Normally open air flying was prohibited, but Mom made sure the area was clear of hikers for this time of day. To me, the view was fantastic.

She shook her head, probably afraid to trust her voice. I sighed, "but it's so pretty." I was watching the cliff face speed along below us as I skimmed up it. "Am I going too fast?"

She nodded, and I flared my wings to slow us down. She still didn't open her eyes.

We reached the cliff face where Damian and Edward were both waiting impatiently for me to land. Edward moved forward to take Bella, and Damian growled; stepping between him and me.

"Stop that, Damian!" I scolded him, trying to set Bella down; she was having trouble keeping on her feet. Damian didn't back down. I saw Jasper and the biggest of the vampires move forward to stand behind Edward. The twins moved closer to Damian. I hurried to get Bella on her feet so I could intervene. I didn't have to, Edward backed off.

"No, that was my fault. Sorry, I wasn't thinking. You're right, you don't know our intentions, you can't read our minds." He spoke up hastily.

Edward forced himself to wait patiently while I made sure Bella was steady on her feet enough to walk back to him. She teetered over to him as Naka and Kohath came outside.

"What's all the commotion?" Kohath asked curiously. Naka remained silent as she focused on the ground in front of her.

"Nothing, Dad. Just Damian over-reacting." I glared at my brother, but he folded his arms and looked away, unabashed. I sighed. Well, everyone was here.

"Alright, now that we're all here... I'm Kit, this is my older brother Damian, my two younger siblings, Kiandra and Jaden, and my parents, Naka and Kohath."

"I'm Edward." Edward replied turning to my parents, "These are my siblings Emmett, Rosalie, Alice and Jasper. My parents Carlisle and Esme," He wrapped his arm around Bella's waste, pulling her close to him. "And this is Bella."

Naka looked up at Bella, I could see the hundreds of questions behind her eyes she was dying to ask, but she just smiled at her and looked down again. I'd never seen Naka meet someone she saw as important and not ask them a bunch of questions. I knew why, but it was still disturbing to see.

"I should probably warn you about the twins." Kohath spoke next, "We've warned them to behave, but their definition of behaving is different from most other people's." He turned to raise an eyebrow at the two. They smiled back at him innocently.

Edward laughed, "They've been trying to plan a way to see us fight. They're debating whether they should trick Damian into fighting, or ambush one of us themselves. Either me, Emmett, or Jasper; they're leaning towards Emmett though. Jasper scares them, and I'm too close to Bella."

Behind him, Jasper chuckled. I saw Emmett start to eye Damian appraisingly, making me nervous. It wouldn't take much to goad Damian into a fight. The twins glared at Edward.

Edward's face turned sincere then, as he looked at Naka. "You warned them to be careful of Bella. Thank you."

Naka looked up from the floor and into his eyes, her face looked strained, and suddenly she burst out in frustration. "Gah! I can't do it anymore!"

Faster than even I could see, she pulled a scroll out from somewhere, and flung it open. It hovered in the air in front of her, waiting.

I'd seen this before, scrolls were a way to prepare a spell that took a long time to cast in advanced so it didn't take long to cast when you needed it. You just needed to fill in the last part and it would activate. In blood. I tensed as I watched the vampires warily.

Edward caught my thoughts, or maybe my mother's thoughts, and turned to his family. "Hold your breath." He warned, following his own advice.

I relaxed a little, as Naka bit down hard on her index finger. I could smell the blood as she quickly scribbled the last character to the spell and activated it. As the spell activated and the scroll disintegrated into magic, Naka cast another, reflexive, spell to seal the wound on her finger. I saw fire flicker on her finger tip to remove any trace of blood.

The spell on the scroll wrapped around Naka like a blanket, before settling into her skin, disappearing. As soon as it was settled, she whirled to stare at Edward with an intensity that surprised me.

He looked curious, "No, I can't hear a thing. How did you do that? Can you undo it?" He asked his eyes flickering to Bella.

I relaxed as my mother smiled her familiar all-knowing grin. I hadn't realized her unusual behavior had upset me so much before now.

Naka laughed. "Yes, I can undo it. No, I can't make it so you can hear Bella's thoughts, nor would I if I could." She sighed, "I feel so much better now. I should have done this from the start, but I wanted to see if I could do it on my own... I can't. Oh well. Besides, if you had seen what I was just thinking at you a moment ago, you would have gone berserk."

I could see the curiosity flare in Edward's eyes, but Naka just ignored him.

"Alright! Now for my favorite part! Questions!" Naka's grin widened considerably and I suppressed a shudder. Questions asked by her were very probing, and tended to drive whoever she was asking crazy wondering why she would want to know the answers. It was even worse when you realized she was asking them to flesh out a future she'd already seen happen.

I caught Edward staring at me and I scowled to myself. I was terrible at keeping secrets in my head.

"Come, it'll be more comfortable, for us at least, to be inside." Naka spoke leading the way into the cave. I sighed as I waited for everyone else to follow her. I followed behind the twins, who were staring at the back of Emmett's head thoughtfully, and Damian came after me.


	8. Damian

***~*~ **_**A/N – **__Here it is, the chapter from Damian's perspective! Yay. I hope it gives you guys a little insight into him. He's both fun and frustrating to write. Unfortunately he's not very good for letting me explain things so I have to explain a lot in other chapters. Oh well. I regret nothing!_

_Shygirl and Leon have asked a few interesting questions that I thought I should answer. The first, regarding their last names, they do have them, I just haven't put them in yet. The dragons' last name is Wrynn. Naka came up with it, she thinks up weird names. She named Kit, Kohath named the other kids._

_The second regarding vampire vs dragon fighting. I don't know if it will come up, maybe if I get as far as the third book, but they're pretty evenly matched if you don't include dragon magic, or vampire special abilities. It also depends a lot on who fights who._

_Now, as for the review incentive, I have a nice picture of Damian being all broody and stuff. So, please give me a signed review if you would like to see it. :D *_**~*~**

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**DAMIAN:**

I was glad Kit was too distracted with our new visitors to notice. I knew I couldn't help Naka noticing, but she hadn't said anything yet. I suspected she knew exactly what was going on and had no intentions of explaining it to me. There was no chance of me asking her though.

Besides Naka, Kit was the only one who might have noticed and asked questions about my distracted behavior.

I was in pain. Or at least I think it's pain. Pain had never been a big part of my life so I wasn't entirely sure. I always thought pain came from being injured; and, as far as I could remember, I hadn't been injured in a very long time.

However, I couldn't think about that right now. I had to think of something else, there was a mind reading vampire near by and there was no way I was going to show weakness in front of the enemy.

So I focused on something else. My family had always been enough to hold my attention before. Nothing in the world meant more to me than my parents or siblings. They always said I over-reacted when it came to threats against my family; but, to me, there was no such thing as going too far to keep them safe. They were all I had.

I didn't care about the pathetic mortals that co-existed with us, nor the vampires. Especially not the vampires. The memory of Kit beaten and battered, arm broken, wing torn... it still set my eyes swimming in red with rage.

I had to stop; pausing behind Kit, who was, thankfully, still too distracted to notice. I forced back the rage that threatened to consume me. I was used to it, I'd fought back the rage many times before; today especially. The rage had been a part of me since as long as I could remember.

I only need a half a second to calm myself enough to resume walking. It was a habit I'd formed, seeing red meant I needed to stop whatever I was doing if I wanted to control the rage. If I wanted to. I almost didn't want to earlier today, when I first saw Kit with... them; but I knew Kit would be upset if I went too far. Actually, what had really stopped me was her determination to intervene on their behalf if I'd given into the rage and frenzied.

I'd never fought Kit seriously, and it frightened me to even think of it. I had to really hold back in our sparring matches to not hurt her. I didn't know if I could hold back while frenzied, while we were both fighting seriously.

That thought quickly sobered my rage as I took a seat beside my sister. Being in close proximity to her also helped to calm me.

I focused on my family now. It wasn't usually so hard, especially when they were currently surrounded and seemingly oblivious to the seven cold vicious killers. However, I still, somehow, found myself distracted. I had this nagging feeling I wasn't supposed to be here. Like I had somewhere more important to be.

I shook it off. There was nowhere more important than where my family was. Especially if they were in danger. I forced my focus back to the present.

Fortunately, the twins had finally decided on a course of action and had ambushed the large one. Fortunate for my attention, at least, not fortunate for my nerves.

I jumped to my feet, intending to intervene. For a moment I wondered exactly how hard it would be to tear the Vampire's head from his shoulders.

My quick movement alerted Kit and she grabbed my sleeve to keep me from moving further. I glanced down at her and I could see the pleading in her eyes. Pleading me to not start something. Using those eyes on me was completely unfair.

I scowled at her, but I didn't move as I turned to watch the twins anxiously. I would wait to see if it got out of hand, but if it even looked like the twins would be harmed...

The part of me that wanted to frenzy was disappointed when the large one laughed. I didn't want my siblings to be hurt, but the disappointment always came when I'd been denied a chance to fight. I watched, still tense, as the twins jumped back from their initial attack in surprise at his laughter.

They hadn't hurt him at all, and they were shaking their hands like they were in pain.

"He's cold," Kia spoke making a face as she rubbed her hands together. Ah, not pain then, just surprise.

"Yeah, cold," Jaden agreed. They eyed him and I could almost see them calculating their next attack. The large one turned to face them curiously. He looked like he was enjoying it. I couldn't really blame him. I was still fighting my desire, almost need, to join the fight.

I looked away before the twins could mount another attack. If I watched for too much longer I would join in, and I doubted I would hold back against someone not related to me. I noticed most of the other vampires were watching them. I wasn't the only one who noticed.

"We don't meet many children we can play with safely," the older one spoke as way of explanation. He was the one I assumed to be the head of their family. He sure acted like it.

"These are the first, actually," the one Kit called Edward chimed in. "Emmett is really enjoying himself."

"Good," Naka replied, smiling. "Someone needs to keep those two entertained, and I'm busy most of the time. I suspect they'll come find you often in the future. Please take care of them, they've been lacking an outlet for their energy. This will be good for them."

The twins weren't paying attention as they attempted to tackle the large one again, but I was. I growled low, not liking that idea at all. They would be with the bloodsuckers? While I was at school and not able to watch over them?

"Don't you growl at me, Damian," Naka snapped at me as she turned to fix me with her penetrating gaze. "I've seen what will happen. This will be good for them." She enunciated each word carefully.

We stared each other down for a long moment. She was winning. She was short, and petite; not something you'd figure to be very intimidating, but boy did she know how to stare you down.

I looked away, not really giving in, but not willing to argue further. She would know if anything bad would come from it. My fears, as valid as they may be, were of no consequence. At least I could take comfort in the fact that Kit would be with me, at school, where I could keep an eye on her.

I turned back to see the twins launch a two pronged attack on the large one. They split up and attacked from two sides. I saw the strategy instantly. There was no communication between them as they split up, surrounded, and attacked in unison. They both aimed for the same spot on his torso. The center of mass, easiest place to hit, also not usually very lethal. They were still testing out their opponent before trying out anything fancy.

I smiled, this attack might actually hurt him. The vampire showed no inclination to dodge, and I doubted very much he realized exactly how powerful the twins' kicks could be. I could already see them shifting their weight to throw their whole bodies into it. Kia flipped onto her hands to attack full force from below, and Jaden jumped up, flipping to get more force from spinning, to attack from above.

The kicks landed exactly opposite of each other. It was immensely satisfying to watch the large one's eyes widen in shock and pain as he fought to not show it. His voice was husky as he spoke, and I could tell it hurt more than he was showing. "Ow. That kind of hurt." he sounded surprised.

The twins jumped back as the vampire reached out to try and grab them. They were much faster than they looked, and were very good at avoiding capture. Kit and I were used to catching them as they attacked, or before they could recover from an attack. If you gave them time, they would use it to their full advantage.

If the twins had been serious they'd have switched places. Kia was more agile in the air, and Jaden was stronger and could have used more force from the ground. If they had been taller, the kick from the ground would have been delivered to the vampire's head. I fought back images of what I would have done in their situation. I would, most certainly, be stopped if I tried to even initiate a sparring match. For good reason.

"Damian." I turned at the sound of my name. Naka was calling me. She smiled at me, "You need a distraction. Would you please show them what a dragon really looks like? They're curious."

I could hear the unspoken thoughts. She wanted me to go fly and cool my head. Probably a good idea. We both knew I wouldn't stay out long though.

I stood wordlessly, and walked outside. I was aware of the others following me, even the twins abandoned their assault on the large one to come watch. It irritated me to have a large audience as I stepped outside and shifted into my much larger draconic form.

We could shift to any size we wanted, we could be small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, to large enough to dwarf the great red wood trees. Once we got small or large enough, basic physics would prevent us from going too far either way. There was always the risk of crushing ourselves under our own weight, or shrinking our vital organs to be too small to support us.

We always felt more comfortable in our natural size though, and that is what I chose. I was about thirteen feet tall, covered from head to tail in shiny black scales. My wings folded back so they wouldn't cause drag as I made my way to the edge. I could speak, but chose not to.

I only paused long enough to glance back at Naka for reassurance that everything would be okay without me. She smiled and nodded at me wordlessly. I snorted, sparks flew from my nostrils surprising the vampires.

"So you can breath fire?" One of them asked. I didn't care enough to figure out which one.

"Yes and no. Damian, demonstrate; and not at our guests, please," Naka spoke to me. I sighed, I hadn't planned on roasting them. Well, I'd thought about it, but I wasn't going to actually do it.

I turned my head to the side, spying some shrub clinging to the cliff side. It was grounded, it would work. My target doesn't have to be grounded to work, but it's easier and takes less energy.

I opened my mouth, releasing the flow from the electricity stored in me at all times. Lighting crackled, as it shot from my mouth to the shrub. The shrub withered, and burst into flames.

"Lightning...?" One of them wondered.

"Yes, Damian breathes lightning, Kit and I breathe fire..." Naka began explaining. I didn't stay to hear all of it, my patience was wearing thin. I had wings, and I was itching to be in the sky.

I jumped off and climbed quickly. I wanted to get out of range of the mind reader. I had much to think about I didn't want him to hear.


	9. Studying and Dreams

***~*~ **_**A/N – **__I really like this chapter. Any chapter that has the phrase, "giant mutant raviolis" is alright with me. And I say this in all seriousness, Kari's reaction to the ratifying of the Declaration of Independence is exactly my own when I looked it up on wikipedia. I should go take a history class... Or three..._

_I'm really hoping this chapter will bring some more attention to Kari and explain a few things. This chapter contains a lot of character development for Kari, Ian and their families; as well as a few things that will come up in future chapters.  
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_Major props to Leon; he helped me loads by beta reading for me :D Also, lots of love to Shygirl, TGG, Flamrok, and Seri for reviewing. You all say such nice things about my story ^_^_

_As for this chapter's review incentive, I'm just going to let you find out when you review. It's a surprise. XD*_**~*~**

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**KARI:**

"You know..." Ian began as we both sat in my living room around the coffee table. Our history books were out, and we were going over our notes from last year. "I'm beginning to think that it's probably not such a good idea for us to study together."

"At least not alone," I agreed, grabbing another fudge cookie. "We can't really help each other much if neither of us know the subject really well."

"Yeah... we're so going to bomb that test tomorrow," he laughed. He went back to searching through his notes on the revolutionary war. "When was the Declaration of Independence ratified, anyways?"

"I can't begin to tell you how much I don't care. I care that it happened... but does knowing the exact date really matter?" I grumbled, gnawing on my cookie. I was procrastinating looking it up in the book, hoping Ian would find it first so I didn't have to.

"July 4th 1776," Ian spoke finding it in his notes. I sighed.

"I'm never going to remember that."

"Me either."

"Oh hey, July 4th... 4th of July, that makes sense. Now I feel stupid," I commented making a face. "I'm not going to remember the year though."

We finished going through our notes on the revolutionary war, most of mine consisted of little scribbles of badly drawn stick figures stabbing each other with bayonets; when Claire, Ian's ten-year-old sister came through the front door. Ian and Claire were frequent enough visitors they were practically family. They no longer knocked.

"Ian! Mom told me to come get you. Dinner's ready," She announced. It only took her half a second to notice the plate on the table between us, "Oooh, cookies!"

She plopped down onto the floor next to Ian, grabbing a cookie for each hand. She waved cheerfully at my grandmother who was watching 'The Price is Right' on TV while knitting a blanket. "Hello, Grandma Emma!"

"Good evening, Claire," Emma told her, looking over to give her a kind smile before turning back to her knitting. My parents had died in a car crash with a drunk driver when I was seven. I barely remember them. I'd been living here with my grandmother ever since then. I wasn't unhappy, and the Jones's, Ian's family, were great neighbors.

Ian sighed as he closed his book, and started gathering up his notes. "What's mom making for dinner?"

"Meatloaf," Claire answered making a face. "and steamed broccoli."

Ian made a face as well, packing up his things and zipping up his backpack. He looked over at me. "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow Kari. Maybe get some last minute studying in during lunch or something?" He inquired.

"Yeah, probably a good idea," I stayed at the table, trying to read my notes through the scribbles. I waved at them when they walked out the door, Claire grabbing two more cookies before leaving.

As the door closed, I got up and made my way to the kitchen for some food of my own. I scanned through the pantry, quickly selecting a can of ravioli and setting it to heat up on the stove.

While I waited for it to heat up I repeated the year 1776 in my head repeatedly. It was probably a useless effort, but I had to try. I'd try to read through my notes once I was done eating. It'd probably put me to sleep for the night.

Which is why I shouldn't have been so surprised when I woke up the next morning, with my notes strewn all over the floor. I also shouldn't have been so surprised about the dream I had last night. I dreamed me and my friends had been in the revolutionary war. Ian, Anne, Claire... even Damian, my lab partner, had been there. Except we were fighting badly drawn stick figures in red coats with bayonets. I think Ian was stabbed, but it all got kind of fuzzy when the giant mutant raviolis came out of the trees and started eating people.

I had weird dreams. This wasn't even in the top ten weirdest ones.

I showered and dressed quickly, coming down stairs to the smell of eggs and bacon. I saw Grandma Emma at the stove with a frying pan and I smiled, "Morning Grandma! You're making breakfast? Thanks."

She turned to smile at me, "I heard you had a test today. You didn't sound very confident about it last night, so I figured I could help by making you a healthy breakfast."

"Yeah, I have a history test today. I was never very good with remembering dates and times," I answered grabbing a plate.

"I'm sure you'll do fine, dear," she assured me, serving me some eggs and bacon from the pan. I sighed, as I sat down, wishing I could believe that.

I finished my breakfast quickly, saying good bye to Grandma Emma before grabbing my bag and heading out the door. Ian would be ready soon, and he was already nice enough to give me a ride to and from school, I didn't want to make him have to wait for me.

I made my way to Ian's house. I walked in the front door to find Ian coming down the stairs. "Hey Kari," he greeted walking past me to the living room. "Claire lost her shoes, we're trying to find them."

"Found them!" I heard Claire's voice from upstairs.

"Hurry up, Claire! We're going to be late!" Ian called up after her, as he came back to the hall where I was standing. "So, how's your day been so far?" he asked me.

"Pretty good, Grandma made eggs and bacon," I answered.

"Better breakfast than mine," he answered making a face, "Bowl of cold cereal and some pop tarts."

Ian's mother came through the kitchen door to scowl at her son. "You know we have eggs and bacon in the fridge, you could have made some," she scolded.

"Ugh, but that involves work and cooking," Ian complained. Ian had never been very good in the kitchen. He burned water once. I don't know how, but he did.

"Good morning, Kari," she spoke ignoring him as she came over to give me a tight hug.

"Good morning Mrs. Jones," I answered.

"So," she whispered conspiratorially in my ear, "met any cute boys yet?"

"Mom!" Ian gasped in horror.

If it had been any other person I'd have answered no; but Mrs. Jones was like my mother. I couldn't lie to her, and it would make her so happy to hear. I blushed, "Well, maybe one..."

"_Really_?!" Mrs. Jones breathed excitedly, ignoring the glares from her son. "Tell me _all_ about it!"

I glanced nervously at Ian, and Mrs. Jones turned give him a stern look.

"Ian, go wait in the car!" she ordered him.

"What? Why?" he asked confused.

"Because this is girl talk, no boys allowed. Now, go wait in the car!"

Ian scowled and muttered something about 'crazy girls' as he turned and stormed out the door.

"Don't make us late, Mom," he told her before closing the door. As soon as the door was closed Mrs. Jones turned back to me.

"Now, tell me _everything_!" She instructed curiously. She loved having these girly discussions with me. Claire wasn't old enough to start liking boys yet and Ian was a boy. She had no one else to talk to.

"Well, there's this really cute boy who sits next to me in Biology. Long black hair, dark eyes, tall, well built." I was pulling features from my discussions with my friends during lunch. I hadn't really gotten a good look at him myself. Though, now that I was repeating it Mrs. Jones and comparing their comments to my own memories, I had to admit my friends had been right.

"Oh, sounds dreamy," she sighed. "Any progress?" she prompted me.

I made a face, "No, not unless you count him carrying me to the nurses office after I nearly killed myself. I tripped on my back pack and hit my head on a table."

"Ouch," she answered sympathetically. Behind her I could see Claire coming down the stairs, back pack in hand.

"It's alright, nothing will probably come from it." I admitted to her, trying to wrap it up so we could go. "He's not interested in anyone, it looks like. I think he just wants to be left alone."

"You never know," she spoke winking, "Maybe he just hasn't found the right person yet."

"Maybe," I agreed doubtfully, my hand reaching for the door knob. "I think we'd better go now, though. We don't want to be late." I excused myself.

"Yeah, you're right. Come over after school and we can talk about guys some more!" She called out after me hopefully.

"Uhm... I think I'm busy after school today. We'll see," I called back, getting into the passenger side of Ian's car. Claire was right behind me, getting in the back.

"What was that about?" She asked curiously, then her eyes widened and she smiled, "Ooooh. Did Kari get a boyfriend? Is it Ian?"

"No!" Both Ian and I protested at the same time, embarrassed.

"No, I don't have a boyfriend. I was just talking about a guy I knew, that's all." I told her glancing pointedly out the window.

"Aww, that's boring. Guess what I'm doing today!" She spoke quickly changing the subject. We were both relieved. We were more than happy to listen to Claire babble on about her day as Ian pulled out of his driveway and started on the way to school.


	10. Play Date with Vampires

***~*~ **_**A/N – **__So I figured out where I got Kohath's name from. I'm so glad I did. It makes for a very interesting background for him._

_This is one of my favorite chapters, the twins are really fun to write, even though it contains some of the original characters. I'm getting used to writing them. It's not as hard as before._

_**Please review!** :D Review incentive for this chapter is a drawing of Naka and Kohath when they were younger.*_**~*~**

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**KIA:**

We waited impatiently for the door to open. If it was Emmett, the large one, who answered, we'd tackle him as soon as he opened the door. If it were one of the others, we'd wait until we saw him, and then tackle him.

We'd have to ask Damian to teach us a few moves. We'd never had an interest before, we preferred to fight more with magic, but Mom had forbidden us from using magic on the vampires. We needed something.

She'd also forbidden Jaden from using his acid on them too. She didn't bother to forbid me my breath weapon. No one ever did. It made me mad.

It wasn't fair that my siblings had super cool breath weapons, like acid and lightning. No, my breath weapon was too harmless to be considered a threat to anyone. Even humans would be little more than annoyed by it.

I shoved those thoughts aside, focusing on the present. Jaden and I were standing with our mother outside the vampires' front door, waiting for our target to appear so we could tackle him. It should be much more entertaining now that Damian wasn't here watching over us like some annoying nanny.

The door opened, and we were immediately disappointed to see Carlisle, the father, answer. We tried to peer around him, but between Mother and the vampire at the door we couldn't see much. We scowled in frustration.

"Carlisle, hi!" we heard Mom greet him cheerfully. "The twins wanted to come over and play, so I thought I'd bring them over. It's not a bad time, is it?" She asked. We didn't know why she asked, she already knew it wasn't. Probably being polite.

"No, not at all," Carlisle replied, holding the door wide open for us to come in. We took the opportunity to inch closer to Naka's legs and peer inside. He wasn't there.

"Actually," we heard Mother say, "It would be better, for the sake of your house, if we remained outside while the twins played." she smiled. We stuck our tongues out at her.

"Mother," Jaden spoke as we rolled our eyes.

"We're not going to tear the house down," I finished.

"That's what you always say, dears." she told us in a patronizing tone.

I opened my mouth to start a retort, but all I got out was a yelp of surprise as something cold, large, and moving very fast collided with me. I had enough time to register Jaden having the same thing done to him, and to look up into the golden eyes of my attacker, before the tickling began. Oh, did the tickling begin.

Emmett was pinning me to the ground, and somewhere between my thrashing and shrieks of laughter I looked over to see Jaden pinned by Jasper, the scary one. The one covered in battle scars. The one that held himself in a ready-to-fight posture similar to Damian's. I was glad I wasn't Jaden, that vampire gave me the creeps.

"So, Jaz," we heard Emmett speak as they continued to tickle us mercilessly, "I believe this answers your question, dragons are ticklish."

"So it would seem," Jasper replied grinning.

"...dirty..."

"...cheaters..!" Jaden and I managed to get out through fits of laughter. I tried to shift, just to get larger and harder to pin down, but I couldn't concentrate through the tickling. All I managed to do was to make scales ripple across my skin like water.

After a while, our shrieks died down to gasps of air, and they stopped tickling so we could breath. They didn't release us though. Instead, they picked us up and slung us over their shoulders, walking away from the house.

"Mom, help!" I called out.

"They're kidnapping us!" Jaden cried out. Naka waved at us smiling.

"I know. Have fun. Oh, Em, Jaz, I should warn you; they're shape shifters. They're very good at hide-and-seek."

"Traitor!" We hissed at her in unison.

"Yes, ma'am," Jasper spoke, stopping to nod to Naka. "We'll have them back soon."

"Oh no you won't," she insisted, "I want them good and tired when you bring them back. Unconscious, if you can manage that without hurting them."

We gaped at our mother in astonishment. She'd _planned_ this! Our mother was evil.

"We'll see what we can do," Jasper answered her, with a grin. I heard Emmett chuckle as he continued towards the tree line. Jasper followed not far behind.

A little over an hour later, we found ourselves completely exhausted; curling up against our mother for warmth. We were cold blooded, and the vampires were cold, we were shivering by the end of our 'play time'.

Red dragons were fire breathers and were unusually warm for dragons. Naka and Kit were both red dragons, they had the best laps to sit in on cold days. Mother was best because she could control her fire better. She turned it up, and it was like curling up next to a fireplace. Almost as good as basking in sunlight. Mmmm.

Playing with the vampires had been fun. Lots of fun. None of our family members played with us like that. They were always too busy. We'd shifted more in the past hour than we had in the past year. Shifting was not as easy as Damian and Kit made it look. Especially new forms, or forms we weren't used to shifting into. Shifting from squirrel to raccoon to blue jay to... whatever else had come to mind at the time, had been very tiring.

It'd gotten harder when the vampires figured out our scent. Our scent changed to whatever animal we shifted to. Though, when we shifted, a part of us still remained dragon. That part that made us tougher, stronger and faster than normal animals. It also made part of our scent stay the same. It was a difficult to pick out, but they'd figured it out pretty quickly.

Jaden and I couldn't leave our half dragon forms if we wanted to. Well, we could shift to full dragon, that was always easier than shifting to any other form, but then it would make it complicated for Mom to carry us home. Carry us she would, too. She did this to us, she could deal with the consequences.

Above us, the adults were having a conversation. I was trying to pay attention to it; but Mommy was so warm and we were so tired. My ears perked up at the sound of Dad's name.

"You're husband has an unusual name, Kohath," Carlisle was saying to mom. I was too tired to look up to see her reaction. "Yet it was familiar to me. I didn't figure it out until after we'd already left."

"I'm surprised you didn't figure it out sooner. You're right, mostly. The Kohath mentioned in the bible is my Koa's grand father. Koa was named after him." Koa was the name Mom called Dad.

"Really?" I heard Carlisle breathe excitedly. "Then he-"

"Please don't ask," Naka interrupted him. "Neither Koa nor I will answer any religious questions you may have. He doesn't remember a lot of what happened back then, it was a very long time ago; but I remember. I have my reasons for not answering, and Koa agrees with me."

"Agrees with what?" he asked curiously.

There was a pause; and I almost drifted off to sleep in the silence. However, I was curious about the answer so Mom's voice woke me before I could drift too far.

"A lot of religious belief is based on faith, and regardless of whether it's true or not, religion brings a lot of good things to this world. Charity, hope... it would not be good to lose these things if I said it was not true. On the other hand, if I confirmed your beliefs, you would no longer have to have faith in what you believe; you would know. Which would defeat the whole purpose of faith."Naka explained choosing her words carefully.

"We will neither shatter your beliefs nor take away your faith. I hope you can understand this?" she spoke apologetically.

"I suppose that makes sense," Carlisle answered. "Still... he's much older than I was expecting. He must know so much history."

"Which is why he spends his free time writing history books. So much history has already been lost, he wants to make sure people remember as much as he can save for them. It upsets him when he has to write lies because of what's already been misremembered. If he didn't, no publisher would print his work..."

I stopped listening after that, their conversation drifting to dull history topics I'd already heard about from Dad long ago. Sleep was getting the better of me, and I no longer wanted to resist it.

*~*~ **A/N – **_Numbers chapter 3. That's all I'm saying._***~*~**


	11. Second Day of School

***~*~ **_**A/N – **__Another chapter with Damian, yay! I hope you enjoy this chapter, this is the first time I've had to write something like this. I think it turned out alright. _

_Anyways, lots of love to those that review! You guys keep me happy and writing chapters :D. I'm only sad I can't give the anonymous reviewer a picture to see. :(_

_Now, for real, I have to slow down posts to once every few days to once a week. School is starting on Monday and I need to get ready for it. So, probably won't update with chapter 12 for a few days. (Also, I lied, Naka explanation comes in chapter 13. Chapter 12 was too long so I had to split it into 2 chapters, the explanation is in the later chapter.)_

_Review incentive is a cute picture of Damian and Kari, so __**please review**__. :D*_**~*~**

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**DAMIAN:**

The pain was still there. It seemed to intensify little by little over time. I tried to ignore it, as I waited for Kit to leave her class so we could go to lunch; but it raged at me. Demanding my attention. It was starting to worry me, and my anxiety was showing. Kit had already asked me if I was alright twice today.

Maybe I should bring it up with Naka, I thought to myself grudgingly. I really didn't want to do that, but I didn't have very many options at this point. What if I were sick? What if I were contagious? Could dragons even get sick? I'd never been sick before, nor had any of my family that I knew of.

If I wasn't better by tomorrow, I'd bring it up with Naka. If I had to.

Kit came out of the classroom with her small gathering of human followers. I glowered at them, but they mostly ignored me. Probably from Kit's urging. There wasn't much of a threat from humans, I just found their incessant chattering a nuisance. I committed myself to ignoring them for the next hour or so, until lunch was over.

As we approached the lunchroom, Kit held back to speak with me. I suspected it might have something to do with my odd behavior, but her expression was one of gloating excitement, not one of worry.

"Guess what I found out today," she said, teasing. I wasn't in the mood.

"What?" I spoke not really caring for the answer. Some thing must have been off in my tone, because her smile faded and she frowned.

"Are you sure you're okay? You look... I don't know... weird."

I sighed, making an effort to sound normal, "I'm fine, just a little tired." She didn't look convinced, but didn't say anything more as she turned back to the humans.

I didn't get any food as we went through the line. I didn't feel like pretending to eat, and the food in this place was disgusting. We didn't need to eat as often as humans did anyways. Kit grabbed a tray for herself, the quality of food didn't seem to have much of an effect on her.

Kit led the way to a table, and I sat down across from her, as far away from the humans as I could manage. Most of them seemed to take the hint and stayed away from me, but there was one female in particular that was irritatingly persistent.

I was ignoring her attempts to start up a conversation with me when a familiar scent wafted towards me from the aisle way. I knew the scent; I had had it in my face for an entire hour yesterday. Not to mention the walk to the nurses office afterwords. However, yesterday it hadn't had the same effect as it had today.

I was no longer in pain. More than that, I was completely and utterly relaxed. Everything was now right with the world, because I now knew where the girl was, that she was safe, and that she was now close enough for me to easily protect her from any harm that may come her way. Heaven help anything that threatened her, because I knew I'd show it no mercy.

Not many things scared me, but at that moment, that little human girl terrified me.

Kit noticed her too. "Kari!" she called out excitedly, waving her over to our table. I felt sick because I wanted to hug Kit for calling her over. Probably to invite her to sit with us. An idea that I found I liked very much. Too much.

I stood up. I needed to leave. Now.

I forced myself to ignore her presence and focus on the door. I almost lost my will power when a chillingly sweet voice coming from across the room froze me in place.

"Edward," The vampire female spoke, "We need to leave. Now. Before he notices us."

_They_ were here, my mind hissed at me. _They_ were in the same room as the girl. That was not acceptable.

"Too late." I heard the mind reader reply, "Bella, we'll see you in class."

I turned to watch them leave. I would let them leave. Not because it would attract attention if I tore them apart in front of all these humans, and not because I'd have to go through Kit; but because I might scare the girl. I very much did not want to do that.

With them gone, I returned my focus to the door. I needed to get away from her, outside. I needed to clear my head.

I was too preoccupied with my confusion to see Kit's reaction as I all but ran to the door. Once outside, I ducked between two buildings, out of sight of everything, and jumped onto the roof.

I wanted to go farther, to go home and demand an explanation from the demon that was my mother, but I simply could not. I couldn't get any farther from the girl than I was now. Even this far was stressful, though it wasn't so much the distance that mattered. It was my inability to see or smell her. I couldn't be sure she was safe.

I tried to ignore those thoughts as I focused on calming down. It took me a moment to get to where I could almost think coherently.

Just what had happened? My mind was racing for some sort of explanation to make sense of it. This girl meant the world to me, and I had no idea why. No one had ever meant this much to me except for my family; and she was most certainly not family.

I thought about her in my head, and my anxiety calmed slightly; much to my irritation. There wasn't anything obvious about her that would warrant my

attraction to her, but, somehow, she was special. She was mine.

I shuddered at that last thought. It had come out of no where, but I could tell I meant it.

I stayed up there through lunch, grateful Kit did not try to come and find me. I was debating whether I should go to class or not. It wasn't much of a debate. In the end I'd decided that instead of brooding on the roof worrying whether she was safe or not; it would be better if I went to class and worried there, where I could see her.

I had no idea what I would do after we had to separate. That was a lie. I had a few ideas, I just didn't like where they were leading.

I waited until I could no longer hear anyone below before jumping down from the roof. I sighed wearily, the anxiety was already starting to subside as I made my way to Biology.

She was there already, reading through the small stack of loose-leaf paper sitting on the table in front of her. She didn't look up as I sat down.

That worried me a little. She was the focus of my attention, and she didn't even notice me. All the other girls in the school didn't seem to have trouble noticing me, why did it have to be this one that did? Life's sick joke on me, I suppose.

It was odd to find that sitting next to her actually made me think clearer. I'd have thought this new found obsession would make it harder to concentrate. No, my anxiety was completely content now that she was next to me. Where I could see her.

I sighed, looking over to see what she was reading through. It looked like notes, but it was hard to tell through the random scribbles drawn all over them. Stick-figures shooting each other and what looked like a giant square shaped monster with large teeth. I wondered what that was about.

My sigh caught her attention and she looked up. I didn't want to meet her gaze, afraid it might make my problems worse, so I continued to stare at the scribbles on her notes.

She noticed this and quickly shifted her arm so she was covering them, flushing with embarrassment.

"Studying for a test next period..." she mumbled, looking away.

I frowned, her words making me remember that I also had a test next period. Dare I hope?

"History?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"Yeah," she answered making a face.

"You don't like history?" I mused, unwilling to stop the conversation now that we'd started it. Inside I was relieved, history was my next class as well. I didn't have to suffer through being separated. At least, not until after school; but I'd cross that bridge when I got to it.

"No, I don't," she replied turning to me. She looked a little surprised at my question.

I was relieved when meeting her gaze didn't make a large impact. I did have trouble looking away from those beautiful blue eyes, but I didn't feel any more worse off than I already was.

"All those dates and names, I have a hard time remembering them," she explained.

"Ah, I see," I said. I didn't want the conversation to end, but I didn't know what else to say to extend it. She saved me the trouble.

"Glad to see you're feeling better," she spoke after a while, looking back down at her notes. "Your sister said you weren't feeling well after you left the lunch room."

"I'm fine now," I answered quickly, not liking the turn in the conversation.

"Sorry, didn't mean to pry," she frowned, looking back at her notes.

We sat in silence after that, I was beginning to realize that conversations could be dangerous. I'd never had a desire to talk to any other human besides my father before; I hadn't realized how hard it was to keep secrets.

Fortunately, it wasn't much longer before the teacher came into the class room and began his lesson. Kari put aside her history notes and took out fresh paper to take notes on the lecture.

It was as dull as any other class, but I was disappointed when it ended. I was one hour closer to the end of school. That much closer to leaving her.


	12. Kit's Weakness: Part 1

***~*~ **_**A/N – **__You may all blame Leon for the shortness of this chapter. He told me where I should split this chapter in two. The next chapter is much longer. This one has a lot of interesting things in it though._

_Edward is in it. :D You know you love Edward..._

_Well, not much else to say. Review incentive is a picture of Kit. I realize I don't draw her very often, so I drew one just of her. So... __**Please Review**__!_

_-Lotsa love to my readers, (but it's true, I love reviewers more :P)_

_Pyroth*_**~*~**

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**KIT:**

As soon as class was out I headed straight for my brother's class. Edward had stopped me from following him when he'd ran out of lunch. He'd said it was best if he were alone at the time, and then refused to answer any of my questions when I demanded to know what had happened.

Well, Edward wasn't here now, and Damian was my brother. I was going to find out what was going on one way or the other.

I half expected him to not be in class, but I was relieved to see him come through the door; Kari a few steps ahead of him.

"Hey, Kari," I greeted her before turning to my brother.

"Hello, Damian. Are you feeling any better?" I asked him, I was straining to keep my voice casual. The look I gave him was not so restrained. It said he would tell me what was wrong, and he would tell me _now_.

He sighed, "Yes, I'm fine." He looked away from my gaze uncomfortably. He wasn't going to tell me. I seethed.

There was nothing I could do about it. Whatever was wrong could easily have been something he shouldn't say in front of humans. I couldn't demand an answer from him right there.

I shot him a glare that said I _would_ find out, then turned on my heel and stormed off to gym. Edward would tell me, or Edward would suffer. Those were his only options.

I was half way there before I remembered we were supposed to bring gym clothes. I'd asked Edward about it earlier, he'd told me to just bring something easy to move around in, recommended a T-shirt and shorts or sweat pants. Ugh. I'd have to deal with that before I got there.

Changing clothes was complicated. When we shifted, we shifted clothing as part of us. The outfits were simple, and used only organic material, but it was better than shifting naked. It was like fingernails, or hair; it wasn't living tissue, but it was still apart of us. It would be painful to remove it, so I'd have to shift it.

Shifting clothing was immensely complicated, and difficult, but it was a skill Naka deemed necessary and we had to learn it at a young age. It was especially hard to get it to only attach at certain places so it hung free like real clothing, but practice made it easier.

I slipped into a bathroom on the way there, and shifted my clothing in a stall. I regretted that this meant I would probably never experience a girls' locker room; but shifting naked, and then getting real clothes just for the experience didn't seem worth it.

With that out of the way, I recommitted my thoughts to how I was going to make Edward tell me what was going on with my brother. I got to the gym just as I remembered that he was a mind reader and that I probably shouldn't think up a plan in advanced.

I opened the doors, and what I saw there made all my plans and thoughts evaporate into thin air.

I stared with a mix of horror and elated joy at the various contraptions set out for use that day. Uneven bars, balance beam, floor mats... we were doing gymnastics today.

I wouldn't be able to resist it. I knew that. I'd go to them, a routine already being mapped out in my head involving all of the various equipment in one smooth pattern. I would show these humans what their bodies could do if they'd only spend time practicing. I would show them how to fly, and they would lavish me with praise and attention.

It would be _glorious_.

It would be my doom.

Edward and Alice were beside me in an instant. I was suddenly very grateful Edward could read minds as they each put a hand on my shoulder and led me away.

"It's alright, Kit," Alice soothed, "you don't have to do it."

Oh, but I wanted to. I really, really wanted to.

Having the vampires restrain me was working better than I'd have thought it would. I could feel their ice cold hands through the clothes against my abnormally warm skin. It was almost painful. It helped me focus.

Not to mention being restrained by two deadly predators worked miracles on my ability to focus. My sense of self-preservation was pretty strong right about then, strong enough to war with my craving for attention.

"Do we need to take you outside?" Edward asked uncertainly. His face looked slightly pained, and I wondered if he found my warmth as uncomfortable as I found his coldness.

"No, I'm almost in control again. Just... just don't let go."

He nodded, probably watching my thoughts as I organized them and reasserted my priorities. My family. They would be very disappointed. I wouldn't be allowed to come back to school. I wanted to come back to school didn't I?

Yes, yes I did.

More than I wanted to show off at this very moment?

_Maaaaybe_... okay, yes. Yes I did. I was relieved to find that to be true.

Then I could resist this so that I would be able to continue coming to school.

Slowly the tension eased as they pushed me down to sit near Bella, facing away from the equipment. I wasn't well enough to look at it yet. My mind was still toying with ideas that would justify a little lapse in my self-control.

I could have been studying gymnastics since I was five. There were olympic gymnasts younger than I was pretending to be. Would I be able to stop there though? The uncertainty of my answer kept my head warring with itself.

Alice sat down next to me, positioning herself so she could step between me and the equipment if necessary. Edward went to go sit next to Bella. He flexed his fingers.

"It's like sticking my hand on a furnace," he grimaced.

"You're not exactly comfortable yourself," I shot back at him. He already knew that, but I was using the conversation as a distraction. "Like ice that refuses to melt."

I groaned in frustration at the internal conflict raging in my head. "Say something to distract me, something to make me think." I told them.

"Well," Alice began immediately, her voice going quiet, too quiet for the humans around us to hear; Bella had to lean in closer to hear. "If you don't mind answering, we were wondering a bit about your mother. She knows things, about us, about the future. We were wondering if you could explain that?"

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_*~*~ **A/N – **An abrupt ending, I know... but this chapter is split into two, so bare with it, please :) *~*~_


	13. Kit's Weakness: Part 2

***~*~ **_**A/N – **__Long chapter. Well here's the last 2/3's of the chapter._

_Much loves to Leon for beta reading for me, he's awesome. Go read his fanfic hunter, is awesomeness. (Leon, I'm threatening you with disembowelment with a rusty spoon if you don't write more soon :))_

_Much thanks to my readers, and reviewers. /love shygirl for sending me pictures and stuff :D /hug._

_Also, humorous note: I was reading a fanfic called held hostage, and all I could think about during it was what Kit would do in that situation. Where the school is taken over and held hostage by escaped convicts. She would duck out of sight, shift into a red ninja outfit and proceed to beat up the convicts._

_After defeating one she'd pose full anime style and speak in Japanese: "The Crimson Ninja strikes again! I will punish evil in the name of justice!" Then run off to rescue the next classroom._

_It was hard to finish the fic through my giggle fits._

_ANYWAYS... review please :D I give you nice drawing of a dragon. I promise._

_~Pyroth*_**~*~**

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**Kit:**

I seized upon that topic like a drowning man to a life preserver. It was the perfect distraction. My mother was the most complicated mess of complicated complications ever. I noticed Edward's eyes widen as I tried to organize my thoughts.

We were living in China and Korea at the time I'd asked about her abilities. I was translating from Chinese and Korean to English first. I didn't have to, I was pretty sure Edward and Alice knew the languages, but I needed to keep my mind busy; and I wanted to include Bella in the conversation.

"You don't have to answer-" Alice started when I didn't answer after a while, but Edward stopped her.

"No, she wants to. Just give her a bit."

"My mother," I began slowly, "is complicated. I don't understand a lot of what she does, but she did try to explain some of it to me. See, dragons get stronger as they age, and my mother is very, _very_ old. I don't know how old exactly, just that she's significantly older than anything else I could use to compare."

It was working; my mind was focusing on my words and memories. As long as I didn't turn around, I would be in no danger of exposing my secret.

"She claims that all dragons can see the future. She says we dream the future, but only about our... significant others? Mates? I don't know what to call them. I doubt that, though. I've never dreamed of the future personally; and I'm pretty sure I'd know if the twins or Damian had.

"It might be because we don't have significant others yet, but I don't know." I shook my head, returning my words to focus on my mother, "As for my mother, the only future seeing that comes naturally to her is my dad's future. It's taken her a very long time to be able to expand her view to include others that were in his future, and eventually others in those other futures as well."

"The future isn't simple though," I heard Alice chuckle softly, and I paused, waiting for an explanation. She shook her head, and Edward just smiled and nodded at me, prompting me to continue. I did.

"There are many possible futures. Once she learned expand her vision, she learned to see the different possible futures. She spends a lot of time analyzing the future, seeing what will happen, and then choosing what she wants to happen.

"It's not as easy as it sounds, manipulating the future. She once told me it was like steering a speeding train with no brakes and a million different rails to chose from. A lot of the time you can't avoid the bumps; often, those bumps lead to the best track. You just have to ride it through and try your best to keep the train from derailing."

I lapsed into silenced after that frowning. I still didn't quite understand the analogy, and the way she told it to me made me think she thought it wasn't quite suitable to explain things.

While we were talking, the teacher had started his lecture on the history of gymnastics. When I lapsed into my silence he was beginning to instruct us on the importance of stretching.

Anxiety returned as I remembered what I had been trying to forget. The equipment behind me taunted me. Called to me. Demanded my attention. I saw Edward shoot Alice an anxious glance. She looked uncertain for a moment but then shook her head. Edward relaxed.

I wanted ask about that, but the teacher was starting warm up stretches, and we had to spread out to give room. The stretches were easy, I had to work to make it so my body didn't contort like a puppet with it's strings cut. I was mentally preparing myself.

Rule number one: I had to remain touching the floor, beam, or bar at all times unless otherwise instructed by the teacher. If instructed to do so by the teacher, I had do exactly what was asked and no more.

Two: I had to botch some aspect of trick. I couldn't do anything perfectly. Well, maybe I could do somethings perfectly... I mean, it was kind of hard to mess up a forward roll. Which was what we were most likely starting on.

I repeated those two rules to myself as the teacher split our groups up to head to various sections. I was relieved when we were sent to the floor mats, the least exciting one.

On the floor by the mats was a little laminated card. Edward picked it up, then rolled his eyes after glancing at it. He handed it to me, and I snorted in contempt.

It was instructions on how to do three of the most basic tumbling exercises, illustrated with crude drawings; forward roll, cartwheel, and round-off. I was about to toss the card aside when an idea suddenly occurred to me.

I handed the card to Bella, waiting for her reaction. She crinkled her nose in disgust.

"Ugh, I don't think I can do any of those... maybe the roll," she muttered her face turning red. It was perfect.

"I can teach you," I offered. I didn't bother hiding the eagerness in my voice. She looked shocked and appalled.

"No, I'd probably kick you in the head or something!" She protested, turning even more red. I didn't let that put me off.

"So what? The twins try to kick me in the head every day. I'm used to it. It would probably do more damage to you than me anyways. I'd catch the blow before you could hurt yourself though." I insisted.

I felt a pang of guilt as she looked desperately to Edward for help. She really didn't want to do this. I sighed. Then gave her my best pleading look, copying from the vampires. I'm sure I didn't do it nearly as well.

"Please, Bella? I need this," I begged. If I couldn't show off my gymnastic skills, maybe showing off my teaching skills would be enough to keep me satisfied. I had to try.

She look torn for a moment deciding, but then she scowled and I knew I'd won. "Thank you, thank you, _thank you_!" I told her, meaning every bit of it.

Bella proved to be as difficult a student as I could ever hope for. I was thoroughly distracted, determined to make her do a proper forward roll if it killed me.

Edward and Alice were doing cartwheels while I focused on trying to get Bella to keep her legs straight at the start of her roll. It took the better part of the class period, but eventually, Bella did it.

I watched in satisfied wonder as she tucked her legs at just the right time, the force of which sent her shooting to a crouch; and then she toppled over in surprise at the excess force that still propelled her forward. I caught her shoulder and steadied her before she could land on her face.

"That was great, Bella!" I told her smiling widely. She looked at me like I was crazy.

"But I almost smashed my face into the floor!"

"Yeah, but you kept your legs straight! See what I mean when I say you don't really need to work to roll? Your legs do it for you; just use the extra force to stand up next time. It'll look amazing!" I assured her beaming.

Bella sighed as she stood up to try again, "Great, I can almost do a somersault," She muttered sarcastically.

I shook my head frowning, "Nu-uh. Somersaults are for children; forward rolls are for gymnasts!" I scolded her. Such pessimism. There was nothing wrong with starting with the basics.

Edward came over to stand by me as Bella executed an almost perfect forward roll; she wobbled a little getting to her feet, but that could be over-looked. We clapped for her excitedly, her face turning a deep red as she stared at the floor trying to ignore us.

Edward chuckled, but then turned to me, his face serious, "The teacher's noticed your inactivity. He's coming towards us now," he whispered looking over my shoulder and I followed his gaze.

My heart sank as the teacher made his way towards us, scowling at me.

"He's going to call you out and make you perform," he said, then hesitated, hearing my internal war with the joy that was threatening to overcome me, and added, "If you keep it simple, you can show off to Bella later."

My head snapped around to focus on him. "Really? Promise?" I whispered excitedly. It wasn't as good as performing in front of all these people, but it was enough to compromise with. Besides, with Bella, I could use my wings.

"Yes, promise," he assured me.

I was already composing a routine for Bella in my head as the teacher arrived, with wings it would be truly magnificent. I held onto that thought as the teacher's voice boomed across the gym. Nearly impossible for anyone to ignore.

"Wrynn, you have something against tumbling?"

I winced at the use of the last name my mother had given us. Dragons didn't have last names, but they were necessary to blend in with the humans.

"No, sir," I answered, keeping my voice and tone carefully neutral.

"Then get to it," he instructed, folding his arms across his chest, waiting.

"Yes, sir," I spoke, my tone still neutral. I took a deep breath, focusing on the image in my head of my routine for Bella, then turned to face a clear section of floor mat.

Forward roll, cartwheel, and round-off. Just those three, slowly, and pausing between each one. It would be ugly, and I felt sick just thinking about it. It should be good enough to let him know I didn't need practice, but bad enough to not be exceptional.

I started, forward roll, pause, cartwheel, pause, round-off, stop. I turned to focus on Bella as I fought the urge to do just a little back handspring. Really, it was only little more advanced than what I just did; my mind was already coming up with excuses to justify it.

The teacher frowned as a few kids clapped behind him, "You've done gymnastics before?" he asked.

"A bit," I answered, trying to ignore the applause. It was making me want more. _Focus on later_, I hissed to myself in my head.

The teacher nodded, moving on to check on the group assigned to the balance beam. I relaxed as the attention drifted from me, and I couldn't help the disappointment that washed over me. It had been the perfect opportunity to show them what I could do, and I let it slip by.

I tried to ignore those thoughts. Damian made it look easy, controlling the craving. It was a wonder he didn't go on a killing spree every time he got upset.

"Well, I found it impressive," Edward spoke, trying to make me feel better. It was working. "Such great self-control."

I stuck my tongue out at him, but he knew his words had made me happy. I was so easy to manipulate. He laughed.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Alice beckon me over. Edward took over coaching Bella as I went over to see what she wanted. She was grinning, and it reminded me slightly of what the twins looked like when they were planning something.

"Bella's birthday is soon," she informed, speaking so quickly and quietly a human wouldn't be able to understand her.

"Oh?" I answered my eyes widening in surprise.

"Yes, on the thirteenth," she went on, "we're planning a birthday party for her then. We have to keep it secret or she won't come. Would you like to come? Well, your whole family is invited, but for some reason I only see you there. I'd have thought the twins at least..."

"I'd love to come! Wait... see what?" I asked confused.

"Oh, right. We never got a chance to tell you, I can see the future. Your future is kind of blurry, though. It gets even more blurry when you change form." She made a face. "Your brother disappeared entirely when he turned into a dragon. I wonder why?"

"Oh... that makes sense. That's why my mother was wondering if you could see us," I mused, "I have no idea why we're blurry, though. Mother probably knows, but I don't know if she'll tell you." I made a face. Naka kept many things secret.

"That's alright, it's just annoying is all. You spend most of your time in this form anyways," she answered.

"Yeah, except for the twins," I replied, "Hmmm, a birthday party? I've never been to one before. What do I do?" I asked excitedly.

Alice laughed, "Just show up, and bring a present if you want to."

"Oh, a present! What should I get her?" I wondered out loud.

"What ever you want to get her," Alice answered winking as she danced over to Edward and Bella. Class was almost over and the teacher was gathering us together for after stretching.

After class, I was brimming with excitement as I thought over what to get Bella for her birthday. That was until I saw Damian; and then I remembered.

I turned to give Edward the evilest glare I could manage, mentally berating him for letting me get side tracked, then jogged to catch up to my brother. It was better I hear from him what was wrong.

"Damian!" I called out. He was waiting for me to come out of gym again, staring off into the distance like before. Except today he looked tense. He tensed even more when I called his name.

He turned to me reluctantly, looking uncertain. Until he caught sight of Edward and Alice behind me. He glared at them.

Edward sighed, walking quicker. "See you tomorrow, Kit," he called to me, giving Damian a wide berth as they walked past him to Edward's car.

"Stop it, Damian." I hissed at him. He didn't look away from them until they were in the car, then turned to face me. He looked troubled, and that worried me.

"I need you to take these home for me, and tell Naka to come find me. I need to speak with her." He said softly, handing me his back pack and car keys.

I folded my arms stubbornly, "No. Not until you tell me what's going on."

He sighed, "Please, Kit? I don't have time to explain; ask Naka, she could probably explain it better anyways." He scowled.

I ground my teeth together in frustration. "Fine!" I snapped, snatching his back pack and keys from him, "but if she doesn't tell me, I'll come look for you myself and demand an answer!" I growled at him.

He only nodded quickly before turning and hurrying away from me. I watched him until he disappeared into the trees, my mind a mix of worry and frustration.


	14. Homework

***~*~ **_**A/N – **__Not a long chapter... boo. Oh well, here's a bit of what's going on in Kari's head. Damian will be next chapter._

_Speaking of which, I did a couple of pictures of Damian and Kari as angels. Just a random thought that came to mind while I was bored. The review incentive for this is the drawing of angel Kari, and the one for next chapter will be angel Damian._

_For those who are new to the story and would like to see old review incentives, please PM me and let me know. I don't mind showing them to you at all._

_~Pyroth *_**~*~**

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**KARI:**

It started raining as Ian drove towards the elementary school to pick up Claire. It had been a fairly quiet trip so far, I was busy thinking, and Ian had yet to start a conversation.

History had been rather... eventful. I found out Damian was also my neighbor in History, one of the few classes that had assigned seats. He could have told me he had History with me. I wasn't sure what difference it would have made, but I'd at least have had time to think of something to tell Anne.

Yes, Anne was in our history class too. She sat next to me on my left, sending me jealous stares. She had found out yesterday about my lab partner and had been questioning me all morning about him. I didn't have much to say to her, but that didn't stop her from demanding all the details.

It was worse in History, I think she suspected I was doing this on purpose. Like I could manipulate the teacher's seating arrangement. If I had, I would have put Ian and me next to each other. That would have been much less stressful; the rumors surrounding me and Ian were already well circulated, and considered old news.

Instead, Ian sat behind me, a few rows back. Leaving me alone, between Anne and the object of her affections. It was all starting to give me a head ache, and the test hadn't even started!

On top of all that, much to my chagrin, my morning conversation with Mrs. Jones was making me think about Damian in a new light. The more I sat next to him, the more I had to admit the other girls were right. He was undeniably cute, dark and mysterious like they had all described him to be.

I was starting to develop a little crush on him. Great, that was all the poor guy needed, another girl after him. I would keep it quiet though, it was only a little crush. I'd get over it.

"I don't like that new kid, Damian," Ian spoke suddenly, interrupting my thoughts. I looked over at him surprised.

"What? Why not?"

"I don't know," he replied making a face. "Just the way he stares at you. It's kind of creepy, not to mention the looks he gives me sometimes. Like he doesn't like me."

"He doesn't stare at me," I protested, looking at him like he was crazy.

"He does too," he insisted. I sighed, rolling my eyes. Ian could act like such an over-protective brother sometimes.

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind," I told him to make him happy.

We stopped to pick up Claire, and the conversation turned to more conventional topics. Mostly about the spaghetti dinner Mrs. Jones was making that night and that I should ask Grandma Emma if we could go over and share with them.

I promised to ask as we arrived home and I darted inside to start on homework. The house was empty, Grandma was probably out shopping, so I plopped down to do my homework in the living room.

I was determined to not think about the dark, mysterious boy that sat next to me in two of my classes. I pulled out the book assigned to us in English, _Animal Farm_, and committed myself to reading it.

It didn't work. It wasn't interesting enough to read about animals revolting against farmers, and I didn't get very far into the first chapter. I kept reading the same sentence over and over, not really comprehending it.

I was relieved to hear my grandma's car outside, and got up to help her carry the groceries in.

"Hey, Grandma," I greeted her as I walked past her to grab some bags from the back seat. "Ian said his mom's inviting us over for dinner tonight."

"Oh? That sounds like fun, what time?" She asked.

"Six o'clock," I answered as we headed inside. I took the bags into the kitchen and began unpacking them.

She'd bought more ravioli, and they made me remember my dream as I put them in the cupboard. Why did I have that dream, and why did it make me draw ravioli monsters all over my notes while I was studying?

Damian had seen them. Well, stared at them really. I blushed at the memory. He must have thought I was really strange.

I hastily shoved the other canned food onto the shelf, hiding the ravioli from sight. I probably wouldn't be able to eat it again without thinking about him. Good thing we were having spaghetti tonight with the Joneses.

Finished, I walked back into the living room to grab my school work and take it to my room.

"How was your test today, dear?" Grandma asked, as I shoved my books back into my bag.

"I think it went alright," I answered. I'd been a little too distracted at the time to remember much about the test. Did I do well? I hope I did, I didn't want to have to retake it.

"I'm sure you did fine," Grandma assured me. She was always saying stuff like that. She told me it was because if you had faith, it was more likely to happen.

"Yeah, thanks," I replied as I trudged my way up the stairs. I _would_ read this book tonight, and I would _not_ think about Damian.

At least, that's what I was telling myself.


	15. Neko Aishichatta

***~*~ **_**A/N – **__Yay for Damian chapters._

_Leon Beta'd... good guy, beta's and listens to my rambles and reads my random stories. I don't even have to black mail him._

_Go read Leon's Hunter, good story._

_Too tired to write more. Vote incentive is awesome picture of Damian as an angel. Review. Please._

_~Pyroth *_**~*~**

**DAMIAN:**

I was in love. That much I could figure out, it was painfully obvious. I'd seen my parents together enough to know that. What I didn't know was, why? I barely knew the girl!

Also, I was under the impression that love was somewhat gradual. There was nothing gradual about what was happening.

I'd been trying hard to remember the discussions Naka had with Kit when we were younger, when Kit had asked her about how she and Kohath had fallen in love. I had never been interested in those discussions, though now I wish I had paid a little more attention. Was it normal for dragons to fall in love like this?

I shook those thoughts from my head as I sat in a tree outside her house, dripping wet from the rain. It made it worse that I was in cat form. Cats' hatred for rain was not just personal preference. Rain clung to their fur, and stuck to their whiskers; not to mention washed the scents from the air. It was incredibly annoying.

Cat's were a good choice for spying on humans, though. I'd never done it much myself, but I knew others that had. They could go anywhere with little more than a raised eyebrow, and were at least close to the top of the food chain. I didn't like taking the form of prey. It was disturbing.

At least that's what I told myself. My real reason for choosing this form was that it wouldn't frighten her. Most likely. Unless she had a fear of cats. With my luck she might.

My thoughts were interrupted as I was suddenly joined by another cat. I was a black cat, she was an orange striped tabby. We always felt more comfortable in our natural colors, or as close as we could get to them. There weren't many red cats, so it would make sense that Naka would chose the next closest color.

I didn't say anything as we sat there in silence, watching the girl sit on her bed and read a book. She knew what I wanted. I knew she would only tell me what she thought I needed to hear. I wasn't going to ask questions she wouldn't give me answers to. That would only frustrate me more, and I was trying hard to not be frustrated with her.

After a while, Naka sighed, "Never, in all my wildest imaginings, did I believe you could mess up _falling in love_," she spoke with such disdain in her voice. My resolve to not be frustrated was quickly thinning.

"You... you think I did this on purpose?!" I bristled, practically hissing at her.

She gave me a disparaging look, "Of course not. Not even you can do that," she sighed and rolled her eyes to look up at the sky, "Why are you always the one that messes things up? Do you have any idea how much work you've just made for me?"

I let out a low growl, glaring daggers at her. "Excuse me for getting my heart ripped out! Next time be sure to warn me, so I can kill myself in advanced and save myself the _agony_."

"Ha," she snorted returning her gaze to me, "If I had told you, you'd have run as fast as you could in the opposite direction." Her look softened, "It's not all bad, you know. You do love her; and she will make you happy, even if you'll never admit it."

"Of course I would have run! I'd run now if I could; but you know that I can't." I glared meaningfully at her. She winced.

"It gets easier," she said, looking away from my glare, "It was supposed to start easier, but you had to go push things ahead of themselves. You were _carrying_ her, Damian! Why not just kiss her for good measure?" She turned to scowl at me. "Don't you dare think I'm serious when I say that. It'll get worse if you kiss. Don't. Just... don't. Not unless you think you're ready for it."

I shuddered at that thought. The idea of these... feelings, getting worse? I didn't think that possible. I clenched my jaw and seethed at her, "You're going to have to explain this better than that. Explain how I can keep it from getting worse."

My eyes were beginning to tint red and I was making an extreme effort to stay calm. I needed more information from Naka before I chased her off. She shrugged as if the answer should have been obvious.

"Physical contact, Damian. That's what makes it worse. Avoid touching her and you won't get worse. It won't be possible for you to keep it up forever, but you can at least give yourself time to adjust. I'll even teach you how to scry on her so you can at least leave her for short periods of time," she offered.

I groaned, "That sounds so... _wrong_."

She laughed without humor. "More wrong than stalking her from outside her house as a cat?" she pointed out.

"Shut up," I growled, glaring at her.

She sighed and shook her head before launching into an explanation of the spell. It wasn't simple, probably the most complex spell I'd ever tried to learn. I'd long since given up trying to learn magic when I was little. It came easier to some dragons than others. It did not come easy to me, or Kit, though Kit at least made an effort to learn it occasionally.

I was surprised at how quickly I learned it; it only took a half-hour. Simpler spells had taken me days, if not weeks, to learn. My surprise quickly turned to irritation when Naka explained that it was because I was learning the spell for the girl. Apparently doing things for her was just easier than if I were to do them for myself or anyone else.

"There," she spoke as a fuzzy image hovered in front of me, "It will get more clear with practice, but I doubt you'll have a problem with that." She continued to watch me as I tried to focus the image. She couldn't see the image, only the caster could, but she could probably tell how I was doing anyway.

"Now," she mused, mostly to herself, "If I can just keep a close eye on this, we can keep past mistakes from repeating themselves."

The image in front of me flickered and died as I lost my concentration and turned to her. My eyes were narrowed to slits, "Past... mistakes...? _This_ is what happened to Silva?!" I hissed at her.

She winced, "...yes, but that won't happen this time! I can see what's go-"

"You're insane!" I snapped at her, "Do you get some deranged pleasure from torturing your children?! It's not enough to murder one-"

"What happened to Silva was _nobody's_ fault!" She interrupted me as she puffed up her fur and curled back her lips into a snarl. I could feel the heat rising around us as she grew more agitated, just as the electricity spiked as I grew more enraged.

I couldn't answer her at first, I had to look away, had to calm the sea of red that was threatening to overtake my senses. This was an old argument between us, one that was not likely to ever be resolved.

"_Leave_," I seethed between clenched teeth. My body was shaking, and she could sense my self-control was wavering.

She fumed silently for a moment, arguing with her desire to say more, but knowing that doing so would only make matters worse. After a brief moment, she turned and launched herself back into the darkness of the forest.

I didn't turn to watch her go. I was determined to stay in control. My mother was insane, but that didn't mean I had to join her insanity. Flashes of the cold dead corpse of my late sister flickered across my vision, and I forced myself to ignore them.

I could do nothing for her now, it did no good to dwell on it, I chanted in my head. Focus on the present, there were important things to take care of here and now, to prevent a repeat.

It was a full fifteen minutes before I could see straight again. A few moments more and I almost had my head clear. It helped that there were sounds of movement from the girl's house, and I needed to be calm to be able to see what was going on.

I recast the scry spell, the image reappearing readily in front of me, as I tried very hard to not think about Naka. I had other things to worry about, like the girl; and what I was going to say to Kit when I met her at school the next morning.


	16. Fluffy Valentine's Day Special

***~*~ **_**A/N – **__Horray for Valentine specials!!! Here's a bit of fluff I wrote for the original story the dragon characters came from. Eventullay I'll write out their story and post it on fictionpress, but for now you can have some fluff for valentine's day._

_This story doesn't take place in Dragon's Twilight, so please don't get confused. _

_Much loves to Leon for Betaing. Okay now read. No review incentive, 'cause I didn't get a chance to draw anything.*_**~*~**

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**THIRD PERSON POV:**

Damian was staring hard at her again, Kari could see it out of the corner of her eye as she folded laundry on the floor. She sighed. "What is it Damian? You keep staring at me like you're expecting something..."

Damian scowled and glanced away, uncertain of what to say. "Well... it's been about a week now..." he muttered.

A week since what? Kari asked herself, trying to remember what happened a week ago. Damain continued after her blank look.

"Don't you think you should go see a healer or something?"

Kari stopped and stared at him confused. "...what? Whatever for?" she was pretty sure she'd know if she were sick or injured.

Damain stared at her like she was crazy. "You've been with egg for a week! Is that normal for humans?!" he asked turning red, embarrassed that he was even speaking on this subject.

"With egg? What-"

"With egg, about to lay eggs... whatever humans call it!" Damian tried clarifying, and Kari just stopped, silent for a moment. She would have enjoyed the bright red face on her husband any other time, but at this moment she was shocked.

"You mean, I'm pregnant?"

"... if that's what you call it... you've been 'pregnant' for about a week now, and you haven't had any eggs yet, is that normal?"

Kari fought hard to not laugh, but didn't quite manage to keep a straight face. "Dear, humans don't lay eggs."

"Then... where do human babies come from?" he asked raising an eyebrow. Kari sighed.

A while later, Kari could tell by the horrified look on his face she wasn't getting anywhere with her explanation. She sighed and gave up, "Just trust me, in nine months time, there will be a baby. Remind me to kick you out of the house when that happens... I don't want you freaking out or something."

"Freaking out...?"

"Dear, you freak out when I knick myself slicing vegetables," she spoke dryly.

He turned away, "It's only because you're just so fragile..." he looked very unsettled by the whole topic and Kari couldn't bear to see him like that. He was usually very composed. She went over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine. I'll have Ora come be my midwife, she's helped birth many babies. How'd you know I was pregnant?" she asked, trying to distract him.

He turned to her. "You smell different," he said simply. He raised his arms to hug her but hesitated. "I'm not going to hurt you or the babies am I?"

Kari laughed, "No, and usually humans only have one baby, so unless I have twins, it's just baby. In a few months you may have to watch how hard you hug me, but for now it doesn't matter."

He sighed in relief as he hugged his wife tightly.


	17. Yes, Damian, You're Mean

***~*~ **_**A/N – **__I'm so sad, shygirl... you didn't review last chapter. ;_;_

_Anyways, Leon beta'd this. Go check out his Hunter story if you haven't already, is awesomeness. He lets me stab him with rusty eating utensils ^_^ and gives me chocolate. Yummy chocolate._

_I hope you all enjoyed the Valentine's special, I didn't get very many reviews so I'm wondering if maybe you didn't. :( Well, we're back to the story now, so please forgive me? It has Edward in it, a little._

_Review incentive – picture of Kit and Damian talking. Give me signed review and I give you picture link :) .*_**~*~**

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**Kit: **

I arrived at school early, anxious for some news of my brother. He hadn't come home last night, and I'd stayed up worrying. Fortunately, dragons didn't need to sleep as often as humans, we just liked to. Mother had taken the time to explain Damian's situation to me before she'd left to go find him.

Love? Damian? That just wasn't possible. I shook my head, as my mind continued to analyze his actions yesterday and attempt to come up with a more realistic solution. Sick maybe, injured even, but _love_? Mother had to have been mistaken.

Though, when was Naka ever wrong? I scowled.

I was pacing the front of the school parking lot, scanning the forest for any sign of him. I knew he'd be coming from that direction. He wasn't using a car, so he had to have been on foot.

Other students and teachers were arriving as I continued to wait. I had planned to ask Naka about how her meeting with Damian had gone last night, but when she got back she avoided my questions and went straight to bed. I was left frustrated in the main room to wait and find out if my brother would come home or not.

It was hard to put on a friendly face as people I knew came to greet me. I wanted to snarl and snap at them that 'no, I was _not_ fine!' but they would have asked questions, and I didn't feel up to answering questions at that time.

A silver Volvo turned into the parking lot, and my attitude perked slightly. I recognized the vampires' car. I made my way towards it, waving cheerfully as Edward and Alice stepped out. They looked wary of me; probably because they knew what I was going to ask them.

"Good morning," I greeted them nicely.

"Good morning," Edward replied sighing. "No, I won't tell you what I know about your brother."

"Morning," Alice answered after him, "Don't even bother asking me, I don't know anything," she spoke with an amused grin.

I scowled, "He's my brother! I need to know what's going on with him!"

"No, you don't," Edward argued shaking his head, "This is his own personal issue, and I will respect his privacy. If our positions were switched, I know I'd want him to do the same."

I growled in frustration. "Tell me!"

"No," he answered bluntly, "You'll just have to wait for him to get here, so you can ask him yourself."

I fought back my anger. I was starting to get too worked up; the heat radiating from me must have felt like a bonfire. I forced myself to calm down, I could wait for Damian. He would be here soon. He had better be here soon.

What if he didn't come? That thought did much to help me regain my composure. I needed to be able to think clearly if it came to that. I would track down my brother, of course. A task that was far easier said than done.

Damian was far more skilled at shape shifting than any of us, except Naka. He knew how to mask his scent, how to confuse it. Tracking him down made tracking the twins look like child's play. Which it was, really.

My thoughts were interrupted as a loud red truck pulled in beside Edward's car. I'd already guessed it was Bella before Edward moved to open the truck's door and help her out.

I gave her a distracted wave as greeting, before turning my gaze towards the forest. I still didn't see any sign of Damian.

Beside me I heard Alice sigh, "We should go Edward, she'll be here soon."

"You're right," he answered frowning, then turned to me. "We've decided that it would be best if we avoided being near your brother's... significant other, as you put it, if at all possible," he explained.

"Probably a good idea," I muttered sulkily, not taking my eyes off the forest. I still didn't know who Damian was in love with, if he was, in fact, in love. I had my suspicions, but this was something that needed confirmation.

"Oh yeah," Alice spoke suddenly, turning to me as Edward and Bella made their way to their first class, "don't forget about the pep rally we have today. It's right after the first hour."

"... pep... rally...?" I asked confused, cocking my head to the side curiously as I tore my gaze away from the forest to face her. I'd heard something about it before, but I'd been too distracted with Damian to really pay much attention to it.

She grinned mischievously, "Yes, pep rally. It's where the whole school has a meeting and the various clubs and sports teams show off to increase school spirit, and attract new members." When she finished she stared at me expectantly.

I just stood there with my mouth hanging open, trying to picture the event in my head. The whole school? That was like... over a hundred people! In one room? I couldn't see it.

"How... how do you fit them all into one room?" I asked incredulously.

She laughed, "They use the gymnasium. One of these days I'm going to drag you to a baseball game in Seattle just to see your reaction."

Picturing them in the gymnasium made it a little easier to see. I still couldn't quite wrap my head around it though. "Huh."

She sighed, "I'd really love for you to sit with us, but I already know you're going to sit with your brother." She pouted.

I shook my head, the mention of my brother reminding me of my current troubles. "You're right. I need to talk to him, and... I'm not entirely sure if I could handle being in a room with that many people. He'll know best how to deal with it if I can't."

Just picturing that many people at once made me dream of performing in front of such a grand audience. I shuddered, a mix of anticipation and dread flowing through me. At least I was going to get plenty of practice controlling my craving.

Alice sighed, "Oh well. I'd better catch up with Edward and Bella; see you later." She walked away swiftly and I turned to frown at the trees. I was relieved when I spotted my brother after a few minutes. I ran over to greet him.

"Damian!"

He spotted me and hesitated, but continued forward grudgingly. "Kit," he greeted me, "Did you ask Naka-"

"Yes!" I snapped at him irritably, "Of course I asked! She gave me some corny story about you being in love of all things." He frowned and I continued, "I'm _not_ being kept out of this anymore! You are going to tell me what's going on and you are going to tell me _now_."

He winced at the severity of my tone and took a deep breath. I waited impatiently, resisting the urge to throttle him, as he let his breath out slowly. Only then did he speak, his voice resigned.

"What Naka said is probably right, though I don't really know what's going on myself," he started, "All I know for certain is one moment I'm myself, sitting next to you, incredibly bored; the next, this girl walks close to us and she's suddenly the center of my world. I _wish_ I were still bored." He sounded so frustrated I couldn't stay mad at him.

Almost couldn't stay mad. At least, I wasn't _as_ mad.

I scowled at him as I thought his words over. "Wow, that's just... scary, I guess," I muttered, "Who...?"

"My lab partner, Kari," he paused and snorted, "I hadn't even remembered her name until you said it at lunch yesterday."

"Hmm... at least she's a nice girl," I spoke, trying to be optimistic.

"A nice girl who barely even talks to me," he said darkly.

"Oh, we can fix that," I answered, rolling my eyes. Seriously, getting her to notice Damian wasn't an issue in my mind. The hard part was getting her to notice him, and _not_ scare her with the intensity of his feelings.

"Kit, please don't do anything rash," Damian pleaded, eying me warily.

I made a face at him, "I wasn't planning on doing anything yet. I still need to know what you want to do. Do you even know what you want to do?"

"No, I don't," he sighed.

"There are two options I see. You can ignore it, try to live without her," I paused, surprised at the look of pain that crossed my brother's face. I quickly moved on to the second option, "or, you can just go with it, and try to make things work with her."

"The first one, I tried; it's not possible, I don't think," he replied softly, "I don't know about the second one. I mean, she'd have to choose me too. I don't think she sees me like that. If she even sees me at all..."

"Well, fortunately, I'd already planned on making friends with her ever since I found out she was your lab partner. We can work from there," I assured him. He stared at me, alarmed.

"You-"

"Oh shush! I was just doing it so I could help her out in case you were mean to her in class; you know, like you are to all the other girls. Not that they don't deserve it a little bit..." I mused.

He groaned, "I'm mean?"

"Yes," I admitted, "Well, more cold than mean, but don't worry about that. I have yet to see you be that cold towards Kari. Not unless you count walking out on her during lunch, but she thinks that was because you weren't feeling well."

He started to reply, but stopped and glanced over my shoulder towards the school. I turned to follow his gaze, and saw a car coming into the lot. I caught a glimpse of Kari in the passenger seat, and the boy in the front seat.

Ian, I remembered. I'd forgotten about him. He'd shown up after Kari had during lunch, and sat with her so they could study for some test. I'd been too distracted with Damian at the time to have paid much attention. I frowned, what was the relationship between those two? That could be problematic.

I could tell by the look on his face that Damian was thinking something along similar lines. We were silent as we watched them walk together towards the school.

"We should get to class," I murmured after a while, taking a step. Damian only nodded as he followed. I hadn't considered the possibility of her having a boyfriend. This... complicated things.


	18. Fun Times

***~*~ **_**A/N – **__Yay for another twins' chapter. You love these, right? I like them at least. They're fun._

_Leon beta'd for me, he's the best beta ever. Go read his Hunter story, is good. _

_Now, have some fun with the twins and we'll get back to Kari in the next chapter :D_

_Review incentive – picture of Kia.*_**~*~**

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**JADEN: **

I cackled maniacally as I flame breathed Donkey Kong off the platform for the fourth time that game. I heard a low growl, and the familiar snap of a controller breaking, from Emmett. He quickly disconnected it and tossed it into the pile of broken controllers before reattaching a new one just as he spawned again.

The pile of broken controllers was getting fairly large. Most of them were from Kia and me; the vampires had more control than us. There were a few from Emmett too, but Jasper hadn't broken any. Of course, he had won every match since we started. Cheater. Good thing he was on my team.

"Oh, come on!" I scowled as Kia's Squirtle came out of nowhere and knocked my Charizard off into the distance. I did manage to keep myself from breaking the controller though.

"Mwahaha! Fear the power of water!" I heard my sister crow next to me. Her celebration was cut short as Jasper's Sheik shot across the screen to knock her Squirtle off the screen.

"Hey! No fair!" she snarled, snapping another controller.

The game ended as Sheik and Donkey Kong squared off for their final fight, and Jasper destroyed Emmett in under ten seconds. Kia and I had killed each other not long before that; the games usually ended with Jasper and Emmett last to die.

We started up a new game, switching the teams so I was on Emmett's team and Kia was teamed with Jasper. Ten minutes later, Donkey Kong smashed Kia's Squirtle off the platform, taking her last life.

I hit the pause button, sensing Kia's reaction, as she snapped the controller and screamed in frustration.

"Die, you filthy monkey!!!" she raged, launching herself at Emmett, teeth bared.

Jasper and I turned to watch as the two of them rolled across the floor; Emmett laughed as Kia tried to bite and claw at him, snarling like a demon.

"Emmett!" came a startled gasp from the door, causing me to jump. Emmett froze in the process of holding Kia back from trying to claw his eyes out. He cautiously turned his head to look at the blonde vampire standing in the doorway, her hands full of shopping bags.

"Er, yes, babe?" he asked, confused at her tone.

Scowling at him, she dropped her bags and walked over to snatch a writhing and hissing Kia from his arms, "Is that anyway to treat a lady?!" she scolded him.

Emmett sat up, glancing at the blonde guiltily, "That one's the girl? It's hard to keep them apart..."

"Let go! Monkey must die!" Kia growled from the blonde's grasp.

"Shhhh, dear, Auntie Roselie will kill him for you later," she spoke, glaring at Emmett, "It's unladylike to tackle people in public! I know, let's go upstairs and leave all these boys behind; I just bought a few things I think would look absolutely adorable on you!"

Kia froze.

"Huwha-?" she asked, turning to face the blonde, eyes wide. We didn't know what she meant, but something about her words set off alarm bells in our heads. I frowned, wondering if I should intervene and help my sister.

"Oh, Rose, I think that's a lovely idea," the nice cookie lady said, coming into the room with a fresh plate of cookies. I hopped up from my spot on the floor to snag one for me, and another to hand to my sister.

She didn't take it; she was too busy glancing between the two women warily. "What? What's going to look adorable on me?" Kia demanded, scowling.

"You'll see when we get upstairs," Rosalie assured her, heading for the stairs, Kia still in her grasp. "Emmett, bring the bags upstairs!" she ordered over her shoulder.

Kia looked at me for help and I paused glancing between her and the scary blonde one. Jasper came over and put a hand on my shoulder. I glanced up at him and he shook his head, warning me not to.

I turned and gave Kia a helpless shrug.

"Traitor!" she shrieked at me as she disappeared up the stairs. Emmett followed obediently behind them, the shopping bags in his arms.

The nice cookie lady set the cookies down on the table and went upstairs as well, an excited smile on her face.

I stared after them, nervously nibbling on the cookie in my hand. It wasn't often that Kia and I were separated. I didn't like it.

I glanced up at Jasper uneasily, before going to sit at the table. I was suddenly remembering that I was in a house of deadly predators, and being alone was increasing my unease.

I didn't feel uneasy long though; Emmett came bounding down the stairs not long later.

"Phew, I feel sorry for that kid," he grimaced, glancing back up the stairs, "Rose and Esme are having a field day. At first they were having problems getting her to cooperate, but then the momma dragon showed up and put an end to that real quick."

I shuddered at the thought of my mother helping them. That explained the small amount of magic I could sense coming from upstairs; I'd just assumed it was Kia being stubborn before. Naka was probably using magic to hold Kia in human form, naked, so they could dress her.

The spell was usually reserved for younger dragons that couldn't control their shifting well enough to blend in with humans reliably, but that didn't stop Mother from using it on Kia and me when she thought we needed it. We hated it; it was uncomfortable being stuck in one form.

We only had to put up with it for a little longer though, the spell was too weak to work on older dragons. It no longer worked on Kit or Damian.

"Anyways," Emmett bellowed, slapping his hand on the table. The noise interrupted my thoughts, and the force caused the table to shudder.

"You, Jasper," he indicated by pointing at him, "against me and kid," he jerked his head towards me, "loser has to act like a dog for 5 minutes." He stared challengingly at the other vampire.

"You're on," Jasper replied, grinning as he turned back towards the game console.

I quickly shoved the rest of my cookie into my mouth and hurried over to join them. It was a fairly even match. I was knocked out of my last life as Emmett quickly took Jasper's second to last life, leaving Emmett with two left and Jasper with only one.

I set down the controller and watched as they duked it out. When it ended, Emmett broke another controller and his howl of dismay could probably be heard from outside.

Jasper chuckled, "Already getting into the spirit of our bet I see."

"I demand a rematch! You cheat, I'll prove it!" Emmett growled.

"Sure, after you pay up," Jasper replied, grinning as he stood up, "I feel like a nice game of fetch."

Emmett growled at him threateningly, but I interrupted them with a shrug.

"Come on, being a dog is fun," I spoke up, shifting to take the form of a black lab and barking, "Betcha I can beat you at fetch."

They glanced at me in surprise, and I guessed they probably hadn't included me in the consequences of their bet. I didn't care, being a dog was fun. I didn't know why Emmett thought of it as a punishment.

Emmett cracked a smile as he narrowed his eyes at my challenge, "Oh, you are so on!"

We spent a good half hour outside playing fetch. It made me laugh to see Emmett catching sticks with his teeth. I was chasing Emmett, trying to steal the stick from him as he raced back to Jasper, when we spotted the crazy blonde vampire. She was standing next to Jasper, her arms folded peering at us with a raised eyebrow.

Emmett spit out the stick and stood up out of his dog crouch, grinning at the blonde sheepishly.

"Nice job Jasper," she commented, "It appears he can be trained after all."

Emmett shrugged, "I lost a bet."

She rolled her eyes, then turned to me, her expression softening, "We're done with your sister, she just looks so _adorable_. You won't even recognize her. Now, you guys stay right here. I'll go get her," she said, darting back into the house excitedly.

I exchanged a nervous glance with Emmett as I shifted back to my usual half dragon form. When Kia stepped out the door, followed quickly by the other females, my jaw dropped.

"Laugh. I _dare_ you," she growled at me as I stared at her. They'd made her look like a girl! She was in a _dress_.

I couldn't help myself. I burst out laughing. I knew Kia's reaction, but I didn't care; she was in a _dress_.

"I'm going to _kill_ you!" Kia snarled, leaping at me. If I hadn't been too busy laughing, I might have been afraid.


	19. Pep Rally

***~*~ **_**A/N – **__Alright, have some Kari/Damian time. I'm afraid it might be a bit before I update again, just so you know. I'm evil for leaving it at this point, but I plan on moving soon, so I need to spend time packing and arranging things._

_Much thanks to Leon for betaing this chapter, he's MR AWESOME PANTS. Go read his story Hunter. Review and he'll love you forever, I swear._

_Review incentive is a neat picture of a girl and a dragon that I drew a while back. You can pretend it's Kari and Damian if you want, it _could_ be them._

_Much luvs to my fans :D_

_-Pyroth *_**~*~**

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**KARI: **

I stared up at the sky as I held my sprained ankle, waiting for the pain to disappear. It had been days since I'd last injured myself seriously; since that incident in Biology, I remembered. I blushed, also remembering the trip to the nurses office.

I sighed, turning my gaze to the students swarming around me to take my mind off that topic. They were all heading towards the gym for the assembly. I had half a mind to skip; with my ankle sprained like this, it was probably more pain than it was worth just to walk there.

Ian's class was right next to the gym, so there wasn't much of a chance he would happen to find and help me. I frowned. I'd just have to wait until the pain was bearable enough to walk on.

I pulled _Animal Farm_ out of my bag and began to read it. I hadn't had much luck reading it last night, so I thought I would try now since I was stuck here anyways.

"Kari?" a familiar voice asked and I looked up.

"Uh, hey, Kit," I answered back, refusing to let my eyes wander to her brother, who was standing behind her. He was frowning for some reason, and I guessed it was because his sister had dragged him over here.

"What are you doing on the ground?" she asked, curious.

"Uhm... reading a book?" I answered, trying not to blush. I wasn't about to embarrass myself and tell them I'd tripped and twisted my ankle.

"I see," she answered, narrowing her eyes at me like she suspected I wasn't telling her the whole truth. Kit had a way of wheedling the truth out of people; it made me nervous.

"Did you know there's a pep rally going on right now?"

I nodded, slowly, "Yeah."

"Aren't you going?" she asked bluntly.

"Well, I do kind of need to finish this book by Monday. So, I was thinking of skipping it-" I started lamely.

"Skip it?!" Kit interrupted, surprise in her voice. "No way! You have to come! It's my first pep rally! Come sit with us, please?"

"Your first... pep rally?" I asked raising an eyebrow. She made a face.

"Yeah, we were home schooled until this year. I'm really looking forward to it... so many people..." she trailed off, excitement in her voice. She really was looking forward to it. Wow.

I frowned and glanced away nervously, "Actually, I'm kind of... stuck here," I admitted. I didn't want to make up some excuse that was likely to hurt her feelings and ruin her first pep rally experience.

"I sort of sprained my ankle a little. Don't worry about me though, I'll just head to the nurses office," I explained quickly, "I don't want you to miss the pep rally."

"No way!" Kit argued, "The pep rally's not important! Are you alright? Should I make Damian take you to the infirmary again?"

I saw her brother stiffen in alarm behind her and I felt my cheeks burn with embarrassment, "No! No... I'm fine," I protested quickly, "I can walk. Just not very fast..." I muttered, looking away.

"Are you sure?" Kit asked.

I sighed and climbed to my feet, ignoring the pain in my foot, "Yeah, we should get to the assembly before we're late."

Kit frowned, glancing at her brother uncertainly before looking back at me, "Alright, I guess."

I reached down to grab my backpack, but Kit snatched it before I could. She tossed it to her brother, "Be useful, carry that."

"You're not very nice to your brother," I commented, wondering if I should try to get my backpack back. It would be easier to walk without it, and, therefore, easier to pretend I wasn't in pain. I started making my way slowly towards the gym.

Beside me, Kit shrugged grinning, "If he minded, he would tell me."

"And you wouldn't listen," Damian snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Of course not, but you'd at least say something. Do you mind carrying her backpack? I don't want her carrying anything on that ankle."

Damian shrugged, looking away, "Doesn't matter to me."

I sighed, "It's just a little sprained ankle, it's no big deal." I would have quickened my pace, but I didn't want to risk re-injuring myself. Then I would have to be carried to the nurses office, and I didn't want that.

As we got closer to the gym, I could tell Kit was getting more and more excited. When we stepped inside, we had to stop.

"Wow, look at all the _people_!" Kit gasped excitedly, "And look! They've got these cool stacking bench things. So people can all sit down and still all be able to see... that's so _neat_!"

"Yes, they're called bleachers," I mused, smiling. Her excitement was contagious, "They are neat, aren't they?" She nodded excitedly, but behind her, Damian looked bored.

I bit my lip. "We should go find a seat," I spoke, starting towards the bleachers. I spotted Ian sitting on the bottom row and waved to him. He frowned at my companions, but waved us over anyways.

"You sprained your ankle again, didn't you?" Ian accused as we came up to him. I scowled at him.

"Maybe," I answered reluctantly, sitting down next to him.

"Why did I know something like this was going to happen?" he sighed, digging through his backpack and pulling out a first aid kit.

"Ian!" I gasped, glaring at him, "Since _when_ do you carry a first aid kit in your backpack?" I demanded angrily.

"Since this year. Now, calm down and wrap your foot up before you hurt yourself some more." He handed me a bandage from the kit before placing it back in his backpack.

I shot him another glare as I sat down, but he ignored me.

"And this is...?" Kit asked, trying to to get my attention. I turned back to the siblings apologetically.

"Sorry. This is my friend Ian," I explained quickly.

"Friend?" Kit asked skeptically, sitting down next to me. Ian rolled his eyes, but I ignored him as I nodded firmly.

"Yeah, friend," I insisted.

Kit smiled, "Alright, if you say so." She turned her attention to her brother, who was still standing. He handed my backpack to me before taking a seat next to his sister.

"Thanks," I said, placing my bag at my feet before reaching down to carefully take my shoe off and apply the wrap. It hurt to put it on, but once it was in place, the relief from the pain would be great. I'd have thanked Ian if I weren't too busy being mad at him. Seriously, how embarrassing. Did I really have so many accidents that he felt he needed to carry a _first aid kit_ in his backpack?

I let my gaze sneak a glance up at Damian; I'd been stubbornly avoiding looking at him until then. He was watching me. Of course he'd look when I didn't want him to. Stupid foot.

"Kari!" A voice interrupted my thoughts and my hands froze for a second as I recognized Anne's voice, "What happened to your foot?"

I quickly finished the wrap and secured it in place before looking up at my friend, "Nothing, just a minor sprain," I didn't bother keeping the annoyance out of my voice.

She laughed, and I could see her eyes flicker slightly to the siblings sitting next to me. "That's our Kari; I just hope you don't damage yourself permanently one of these days," she told me seriously, "I see you've made some new friends...?" I could almost hear her begging me to introduce her.

I sighed, "Anne, this is Kit, and her brother Damian; Kit this is Anne, our friend."

Kit smiled and waved, "Hi Anne."

"Hi," Anne answered, taking a seat on the other side of Damian. I turned to frown down at my foot; I was trying hard to not be jealous. I was losing my battle against my little crush.

I was relieved when I looked up to see him leaning away from Anne slightly. He looked annoyed as he carefully ignored her presence, in spite of her attempts to start a conversation.

Damian's expression worsened when another voice called across the gymnasium and we looked up to see a couple of girls coming. I recognized them as part of the crowd that always hung around Damian during lunch.

They came over, greeted by Kit, and I found the seats around us were filling up quickly. Worse, the girls were practically besides themselves with their flirting.

Disgusted, and more than a little upset at myself because I just couldn't see myself doing something like that, I stood up. "My foot is hurting worse than I thought it would," I lied quickly, "I think I'll head to the nurse now."

I reached down for my bag, but someone beat me to it. I looked up, surprised to see Damian. I tried to not blush, but I couldn't stop my heart from stuttering.

"I'll go too," he said quietly. I stared at him confused, until he glanced back at the group of girls uneasily. Ah, he wanted to be away from the attention as much as I did.

"Kit would make me go anyways," he added, his gaze turning to his sister. She just smiled and nodded smugly.

I bit my lip nervously, "Alright, I guess. You don't have to..." I muttered, trailing off as I started toward the nurses office hesitantly. He only shrugged before following after me.


	20. St Patrick's Day Special

**Saint Patrick's Day Special: Third Person**

Kari frowned as she hurried down the stairs. She stubbed her toe on the last step in spite of the care she'd taken to not hurt herself. Muttering to herself, she continued her trip to the front door.

She couldn't help but smile in hopeful expectation at what was behind it. She was slightly disappointed when she was met by an overly excited, red-headed girl instead of the dark haired boy she was expecting.

"Kari!" the girl cheered excitedly, wrapping Kari in a warm hug as soon as the door was open.

"Hey, Kit. I didn't know you were coming over. Is your brother here?" Kari asked hopefully.

Kit snorted, "Yes, he's here; but aren't you happy to see me?" she asked, pouting slightly.

Kari sighed, "Of course I'm happy to see you." She returned the hug. Over Kit's shoulder, she caught sight of the figure she'd been looking for. Kari's heart quickened slightly at the sight of him and she blushed, knowing they could both hear it.

Kit chuckled. "Alright, alright. You can go see my idiot brother now. I just wanted to get a hug in before he monopolized you," she sighed, releasing Kari reluctantly.

Kari smiled thankfully at her before moving past Kit to approach her brother, Damian. She slowed hesitantly as she got close to him, but he wasn't having that. He closed the distance and embraced her tightly.

Kari blushed as Damian inhaled her scent, allowing it to wash away the anxiety that always plagued him when they were separated.

After a moment, Kari spoke, "So, what's planned for today?"

"Hunting," Damian answered, not letting go. He didn't sound very enthusiastic about it; usually he enjoyed hunting. Kari glanced questioningly at Kit, but she was frowning, looking Kari up and down.

"Damian," Kit started, her voice tense, "she's not wearing any green."

_'Green?'_ Kari wondered as Damian pulled away to look her up and down.

"Why aren't you wearing any green?" he asked anxiously.

"Should I be?" Kari asked uncertainly.

"Don't you know what day it is today?"

"Uhm... Saturday?"

He rolled his eyes, "Yes, it's Saturday. No, I mean, it's March 17th."

Kari frowned as she tried to remember why that date was significant; it didn't take long when combined with the green comment. "Oh... Saint Patrick's Day. So, what, are you going to pinch me now?" she asked, eying him and Kit warily.

"Pinch...?" Damian asked, confused.

"It's a human tradition," Kit explained quickly, "The other kids were talking about it at school. If you don't wear green on this day, the other humans pinch you. A childish tradition, but it's not far off the mark," she mused.

Damian frowned and shook his head, "No, that's not the real reason why you should wear green." He grabbed Kari's hand and started pulling her back toward the house.

"The leprechauns can't curse you if you're wearing green," he said, his tone serious.

Kari laughed, she couldn't help it. "Leprechauns?" she asked between laughs.

Damian looked irritated, and Kit shook her head, sighing.

"You're talking to two dragons, and you laughing at the idea of leprechauns?" Kit asked, raising an eyebrow. Kari stopped laughing and bit her lip nervously.

"I don't know if I have any green, it's not one of my favorite colors," she said, frowning.

Damian stopped, turning to face her. He unfastened a bracelet he had been wearing from around his wrist and clipped it around hers. She hadn't noticed the bracelet made of shiny green stones before.

"Here," he said.

"Oh, it's pretty. What is it?" she asked, admiring it.

"It's jade and emeralds. Part of Naka's treasure horde; she made a set of these for us, just for this day of the year," he explained.

"Are leprechauns really that dangerous?" Kari asked curiously.

"They are if you're hunting them," he replied as they continued out the door and towards the car.

"Why hunt them then?"

Damian sighed, "I don't like to, but it's sort of a family tradition. You hunt leprechauns for their gold, and dragons horde gold. It's mostly a female thing, they really like gold and other precious metals and stones. Kit insists that I hunt with her every year, and since I don't really care, I don't mind doing it. Usually. However, there's you to worry about this year."

They'd made it to the car, and Damian held the passenger door open for her while Kit climbed in the back. "You want to see a leprechaun, right, Kari?" Kit asked excitedly from the back.

Kari hesitated, "I am kind of curious," she admitted.

"Ha! There! Now Damian has to come hunt with me!" Kit cheered, a large grin on her face.

"He doesn't have to if he doesn't want to," Kari frowned, worried.

"Yes he does," Kit replied, "Right, Damian?"

Damian shrugged, starting the car, "It doesn't matter to me."

"Mwahaha, that gold will be mine," Kit cackled triumphantly from the back seat. Damian rolled his eyes.

They arrived at the Wrynns' house, two hyper children bouncing from one foot to the other impatiently on their door step.

"Hurry up!" the brown-haired, green-eyed boy called out.

"You're so slow!" the blue-eyed girl added, tapping her foot impatiently.

Kari smiled, she didn't often get to spend time with the rest of Damian's family. The twins, Kia and Jaden, were cute, but they weren't allowed to get too close to her. They still needed to learn to control themselves better before they could be trusted around humans.

"Calm down, it's not like you're going to manage to catch one anyways," Kit replied, rolling her eyes. They glared back at her.

"Will too," Jaden insisted.

"That gold will be ours," Kia added.

"You can't share the gold?" Kari suggested.

"_No_!" the twins protested in unison.

"Absolutely not!" Kit agreed.

"Don't worry," Damian assured Kari, "they're like this every year."

The twins stuck their tongues out at him before turning to disappear inside the house. "Let's go!" they called back.

Kit followed them, and Damian walked with Kari not far behind.

It wasn't much later that Kari found herself somewhere in a forest far away from any civilization. Naka had said they were in the cascades somewhere. She'd teleported them here after explaining that she'd located a colony of leprechauns nearby.

She was sitting in a clearing with Damian's father, Kohath, watching a set of scrying windows Naka had set up for them. It was actually very interesting to watch.

She spent most of the time watching Damian's window; it was like watching one of those asian ninja movies. Except the ninja was a black cat. Leprechauns were really small, so all of the dragons had opted for smaller hunting forms.

They were all stalking around a particular tree Naka had pointed out to be the home of the colony. Kari hadn't seen any leprechauns yet, but it was still early.

She caught her first glimpse of a leprechaun from Naka's window. Kohath pointed it out to her when he spotted it, his eyes better than hers.

"Naka always finds them first," he mused, watching as Kia and Jaden moved to intercept their mother, scattering the leprechauns in the process. There were about six of them in total.

"Really? Do they ever catch any?" Kari asked.

"Hardly ever. Naka caught one once, to prove that she could. She usually just hunts for fun, more into the chase than the actual gold reward. She has so much gold already."

"They're that hard to catch?"

Kohath nodded, "They're weakened today, but it's still pretty strong. Their skills focus on illusion and escape. You have to sever their magic before you can catch one; it's very tricky."

"What do they do when they catch one?" Kari asked curiously. The dragons had split up, each group following their own leprechaun. The twins had lost theirs almost immediately, as it disappeared into a tree trunk and never emerged.

"I'm not sure," Kohath admitted, "Naka just released hers after she'd caught it."

"They aren't going to hurt them, are they?" Kari asked, starting to wonder if she should continue watching or not. Naka had just caught up to her leprechaun. Kari was relieved when she just tapped it on it's back before letting it disappear into a rock.

"I don't think so."

Kari frowned as she watched Damian stalk the last leprechaun in sight. He and Kit were trying to flank it to keep it from escaping. Kit was casting a spell, and Kari assumed it must have been the magic severing spell Kohath had just told her about.

Once the spell was cast, the leprechaun panicked and ran from the two dragons. They followed it at a cautious pace; even without their magic, Leprechauns were still hard to catch. They would carefully force it into a trap between the two of them.

As they followed it, Kari saw Damian's step falter for a moment before quickening his pace. She frowned, wondering what that had been about.

"It's headed this way," Kohath frowned, troubled. He stood up, and Kari watched in surprise as he drew his sword. "Stay back," he warned.

Kari chewed on her lip nervously as she watched the brush in front of Kohath move, and the leprechaun come shooting out. It skid to a halt, narrowly missing Kohath's blade as it struck the ground where it would have been just a moment before.

It yelped in surprised fear as it turned to run away. It was forced to stop again as Damian and Kit both burst from the greenery as cats, hissing dangerously.

The leprechaun turned to run to the side, but the twins intercepted as ferrets. It backed away from them, completely surrounded on all sides.

"It's _mine_," Kit hissed, her eyes flickering towards the twins.

"Not if _we_ catch it first," Kia snapped back, never taking her eyes off the leprechaun.

They argued back and forth, inching gradually closer to the center, but Kari was barely noticing as she focused on the leprechaun. Now that she could see it clearly, she could tell it was a girl leprechaun. She looked so tiny and frail; it wasn't fair that all of them were ganging up on the poor thing.

Making a quick decision, Kari lunged forward past Kohath and picked up the little leprechaun girl, "Stop it! You're scaring her!"

The dragons froze.

"Kari, please put it down before it hurts you," Kohath suggested calmly.

Kari hesitated, she hadn't thought of it hurting her before.

"I won't hurt you," Kari heard the little leprechaun whisper in her ear, "Don't let the demons get me!"

Kari scowled at Kohath, "No, I won't let you hurt it."

She turned to glance down at the leprechaun in her hands, "Don't worry, you're safe with me. I'm Kari, what's your name?"

The leprechaun girl hesitated, "I'm Trixie," she answered shyly. She glanced nervously at the dragons surrounding them. "Are you some sort of demon tamer?"

Kit growled in frustration as she slumped to the ground in defeat. Damian was already moving to put himself between Kari and his siblings, there was no way Kit was going to challenge that.

Naka appeared out of nowhere and went over to embrace her husband. She whispered an explanation only he could hear in his ear as she pulled him away.

Kari smiled, "No, I'm not a demon tamer. I just don't like seeing people who can't fend for themselves picked on."

Kit snorted, "Right, can't fend for themselves, my tail..."

Damian hissed a warning at her, and Kit quieted herself.

"Oh. That's nice of you," Trixie told her, then added fearfully, "Can I... Can I go home now?"

"Of course," Kari told her, moving to set her down.

"No! Don't put me down with the demons!" Trixie protested, clinging to Kari.

"They won't hurt you anymore; but I'll take you home if it will make you feel better," Kari assured her.

Trixie nodded, then pointed off into the woods, "My home is that way."

Kari nodded and started walking. Trixie glanced over her shoulder and asked, "Do the demons have to come?"

"No they don't," Kari spoke, turning to look back at them. The dragons grumbled, but slunk away one by one except Damian. He stayed stubbornly by Kari's side, eying the leprechaun warily.

Kari sighed, "Except this one. Don't worry though, he won't hurt anyone. Will you, Damian?"

He shook his head, "I had no plans of hurting them to begin with; but if they hurt you, I will retaliate."

Trixie shuddered. "We won't hurt Kari! Kari is nice!" she insisted.

Damian didn't answer, just continued to follow them silently.

"Don't mind him, he's always like that," Kari explained as they reached the leprechaun village. She hesitated, wondering how to get up the tree, when she heard Damian sigh.

He shifted forms to his half dragon form. "Would it be alright if I carried you up the tree?" he asked.

Kari glanced down at Trixie. The leprechaun nodded, "So long as Kari is still holding me."

Damian picked Kari up easily and leapt to the top of the tree. Grabbing onto a branch just above the leprechaun colony, he hung right where Kari could see the little houses.

Kari placed Trixie down on the tree branch, "There, all safe now. I'll make sure the demons stay away, okay?"

"Thank you!" Trixie told her. She hesitated for a moment, then darted inside one of the houses. She came back out with something in her hands. She handed it to Kari.

Kari took it, and her eyes widened in amazement as the little trinket grew larger in her hands. It was a necklace with a golden four leaf clover on a fine gold chain. It stopped growing when it reached her size.

"Wow, thanks, Trixie. You didn't have to," Kari told her.

Trixie just blushed and waved goodbye before disappearing back into her house. After a moment, the little village melted from view and the tree looked normal again.

Kari looked up at Damian guiltily as he let go of the branch and dropped them back to the ground. "Are you mad?" she asked anxiously.

He chuckled, "No, but Kit and Kia are probably still having hissy fits."

Kari bit her lip, "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, they'll get over it," he assured her as he continued to carry her back to the clearing, "Besides, they're going to be so jealous when they find out you managed to get leprechaun gold before they did."

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_*~*~ A/N: I'm putting my author's note at the end today, I think people might read it more if I do that. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this Saint Patrick's Day Special. The vampires are out of town at this time, and Bella is with Jacob and the werewolves, so I could really put them in here._

_Not that this chapter actually takes place in the DT time line, but it would fit somewhere in there if it did. This story never actually took place, it's just a bit of fluff I put in there for the holiday. Not my best writing, I was kind of in a rush to finish it._

_Still, I hope you liked it. Please review, I'll love you forever and ever. :D _

_I'll draw a leprechaun for review incentive._

_Oh yeah, and Leon says I should tell you about the fic me and him are co-authoring. It's called Miss Universe Pageant: www. fanfiction. net/s/4930162/1/Miss_Universe_Pageant (Take out the spaces) Go read it, it's crazy and hilarious. Or at least it will be, there's only one chapter up at the moment.  
_

_-Loves_

_Pyroth*~*~_


	21. Cheerleaders

**21 - KIT:**

I watched the two of them go, practically cackling with glee in my head. _Doesn't notice you, my tail, Damian! She notices you more than you think._ Not that he'd believe me if I told him; and I wasn't going to tell him.

I wanted to follow them, but I knew it wouldn't be right. If I went, then that left the door open for others to go, and soon the whole crowd around us would be on its way to the nurses office.

I glanced over at the boy Kari had left behind, Ian. He also looked like he wish he could follow them. At least, he didn't look happy to see them going off by themselves. The gleeful cackling increased.

Until he stood up. Uh-oh, he was going to interfere? No way I was letting _that_ happen.

"Ian," I called out quickly, my mind racing for an excuse to get him to stay. "I'm curious. You and Kari seem really close. If you're not dating, then...?" I trailed off.

It was a little more nosy than I liked to be, but I needed to get him to stay. I could afford to be less than tactful.

He turned and frowned at me, annoyed. "Kari and I have been neighbors since she was seven. We're sort of like brother and sister now," he answered, sitting back down slowly.

"Oh, I see. So, you've known her for a very long time then?" I asked, trying to drag the conversation out.

"Yes, probably longer than anyone else except her grandmother."

"What about her parents?" I asked, surprised; I regretted it when I saw his expression turn somber and he looked away from me.

"She's an orphan," he explained quietly, "Her parents died when she was seven, and that's when she moved here to Forks to live with her grandmother."

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize," I spoke uncertainly.

"Yeah, I noticed. You don't realize a lot of things," he replied coolly, not looking at me.

My eyes went wide and I blinked, stunned. "Wha-what's that supposed to mean?" I demanded.

He turned to glare at me with cold eyes, "You made her walk here on a _sprained ankle_. You invite her to sit with you without even realizing she _hates_ crowds, and you attract crowds like a flame attracts moths! You treat Kari like a friend, but do you really know anything about her?"

"I'm _trying_ to get to know her!" I hissed back, getting upset. A little part of me tried to tell me he might be right, but I ignored it, "Besides, she _insisted_ that we bring her here. I was going to make her go to the nurse."

"But you didn't," Ian shot back accusingly.

I seethed, glaring at him as I tried to think up a reply. I didn't have one, so I remained seething. How dare he? Making assumptions about me, he had no right!

I was saved from having to make a reply when a loud voice boomed from the speakers over head. I barely noticed as the principal began the assembly, welcoming everyone who came. He made some announcements, but I wasn't listening.

I was fuming. No one had talked to me like that before. Well, except for my brother; but that was Damian. He didn't count.

This boy thought he knew me. I would show him. I could _too_ be considerate of others! He knew _nothing_ about me!

I was already making plans to prove him wrong. From now on, I would focus on putting Kari first. To do that, I needed to know more about her. This was going to be difficult; Kari didn't talk much about herself. She also didn't appear to enjoy talking about herself either.

I would be Kari's bestest best friend ever! Just to prove that boy wrong. No, wait; that wasn't what a friend would say. Grrr... I'd do it to make Kari happy! Yes, that sounded better.

My plan set, I turned my attention back to my surroundings. The principal had finished speaking to the students and, currently, the band was playing some upbeat tune meant to inspire. I tuned it out, bored; I wasn't interested in such trivial entertainment.

Lacking something better to do, I watched the people around me out of the corner of my eyes. The girls that had come to sit next to Damian were now sitting silently next to each other, studiously ignoring each other.

I could almost feel the unease between them. I'd have smiled in amusement if I didn't feel like ripping someone's head off at that moment. Particularly the boy sitting on the other side of me. Whom I was stubbornly ignoring.

I tried to ignore him at least; I still noticed when he turned to frown at me for a moment before turning back to the band. Ugh, I didn't understand why he disliked me so much. It wasn't so bad though; the dislike was mutual.

The band finished, and a flash of something shiny interrupted my thoughts. I turned to watch a group of girls enter the gym in set of two lines. They all wore the same uniform and had odd, bushy, multi-colored, plastic objects in each hand.

I watched, confused, as they made their way to the middle of the gym, fanning out into a uniform formation, each striking the same pose. Once in position, music began playing from the loud speakers and they all started moving at once.

Nearly every head turned to the girls as they performed a carefully choreographed and well practiced dance. It was one of the most spectacular things I had ever seen.

I dug my fingernails into the wooden bench beneath me, shifting slightly to claws as a reaction to my stress, as the familiar longing for attention flooded my brain. I wanted to join them. Badly.

I watched them twirl and jump, everything they did demanded people look at them. It was like watching myself when I was younger, performing tricks that would shame an Olympic level gymnast just to get my family's attention.

To be able to perform so shamelessly in front of so many people. It was practically my dream come true! I quickly fought against the urge to leave the bench and join them. I had already been resisting the urge to show off in front of all these people, so it wasn't as bad as gym.

I distracted myself by focusing more on the how I could join their team and work with them the right way, instead of just jumping in their and stealing the show from them like I so desperately wanted. It was almost working.

"Are you alright?" a voice asked from beside me, "You look like you're sick or something..."

I turned to the voice, surprised to see Ian. I had forgotten about the others around me. All at once my intense dislike of him returned; I would not show weakness in front of the enemy.

"I'm fine," I told him curtly, shifting my claws back into fingernails and forcing myself into a leisured position. I wanted to ask about the dancing girls, but I wouldn't allow myself to potentially look foolish.

Ian frowned at me for a moment before shrugging and returning his attention to the front. The girls were finishing up their routine, much to my relief; and when they finished, one of the girls walked up to the microphone.

"Hello, Forks High!" the girl called out, getting a roar of approval from the crowd. "As you may or may not already know, I am Lauren Mallory; and I'm the captain of the cheer squad."

_There was a captain?_ My mind burned with jealousy. I simply _had_ to be a part of this 'cheer squad', and usurp the spot of captain if possible. My mind was racing to come up with plans and ideas to assure that position as mine; some of them teetered dangerously on the 'too far' side. I was fairly certain casting a spell that would cause this 'Lauren' to become seriously ill, or horribly ugly, was considered 'too far'.

"As usual, with the graduating of last years seniors, we currently have a few vacancies that need to be filled. Next Friday, a week from now, we will be holding auditions to fill those vacancies."

Next week. Friday. Armageddon would not keep me away.

I forced myself to not smile as I began to plan. I would be a cheerleader, and it would be glorious. Now I just needed to figure out how to do it without risking exposure for me and my family.

* * *

_*~*~ A/N: Sorry it took so long to post, I'm still trying to get situated in my new place. I'm still looking for a job too. Boo the economy. Boo it, I say!_

_Well, hope you enjoyed it, and please review. :)_

_Review incentive is Kit dressed up as a cheerleader._

_-Loves_

_Pyroth*~*~_


	22. Car Rides

**KARI:**

It was nerve-wracking to sit in the infirmary and hold an ice pack to my ankle while _he_ sat there, watching. I'd expected him to leave after we got here; to go skip the assembly somewhere more exciting.

Instead, he'd insisted on staying. He said it was in case I needed help getting to class. Apparently he thought I wasn't strong enough to make it to class on my own; how embarrassing.

I tried to focus on my swollen ankle so I wouldn't stare at him. It was becoming harder and harder to fight the little crush I had on him. I didn't help that he was gorgeous, and nice. He'd offered to carry me to the office when we left the gym. I'd nearly twisted my ankle again in surprise.

I'd hastily declined; I didn't think I could have kept from blushing if he'd have done that. Also, I suspected it was something his sister had put him up to, and I didn't want to be a nuisance.

"Do you fall down often?"

I glanced up, a little startled at the sudden break in silence. "Uhm, sort of... What do you mean by often?"

"In the few days I've known you, you've fallen at least 4 times. Is that normal for you?" he clarified.

"Not really..." I answered hesitantly.

"You're lying," he replied, glancing down at the floor and frowning.

"I am not," I spoke defensively before adding, "I, uh, usually fall down more than that." I dropped my eyes to the ice pack on my foot, embarrassed.

"Really?"

"Yeah, but it's fine. I'm used to it," I tried reassuring him. I glanced up to see if it worked, but he was still frowning at the floor.

"Hm." He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, lapsing back into silence.

The silence stretched on for a long while, though it didn't seem as uncomfortable as it should have been. It annoyed me to find that I liked just sitting with him, even if we weren't talking.

I looked up at the clock and frowned. It was almost time for lunch; the pep rally was over. I set aside the ice pack and rewrapped my foot; it was time to leave. I stood up and reached for my backpack, but it was gone.

I looked up and fought hard to keep from blushing. Damian was standing next to me holding my bag. I hadn't even heard him get up.

"Uh, thanks," I told him.

He nodded and went to the door, holding it open for me; probably to keep me from tripping. I stepped past him and walked towards the cafeteria. I wanted to get there quickly in case people saw us and started spreading rumors. It was bad enough we had left the assembly together.

"Damian! Kari!" I paused at the sound of Kit's voice.

"Hey, Kit," I greeted her.

"You feeling any better?" Kit asked, concerned. Behind her I could see Ian coming as well; he looked a little annoyed.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied, glaring at Ian when he snorted and rolled his eyes. I saw Kit shoot him a glare as well and I wondered what that was about.

"Are you sure? We could give you a ride home. It wouldn't be any trouble at all," she urged, returning her attention to me.

"No, really, I'm fine," I insisted, ignoring the look Ian was giving me. At least he kept quiet this time. I jumped when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"You are not fine," Damian spoke quietly. "You're pale, you're heart is racing, and you wince with every step."

I sighed in annoyance. He was right, but it wasn't that bad. I was going to be sitting most of the time anyway, so there wouldn't be too much strain on my ankle.

"Seriously guys, I'm fine- Aaah!" I yelped in surprise when Damian ignored my protest and picked me up. "Wha- what are you doing?"

"I'm taking you home. You shouldn't be walking on that ankle." He turned and started towards the parking lot.

"Whoa, whoa, wait just a moment there," Ian interjected. "I'll take Kari home. I usually give her a ride, and I already know where she lives. Besides, you should go to class and take notes and pick up her homework."

Damian stopped, and I looked up to see him frown as he thought that over. I was just hoping they'd forget the whole thing and let me go back to school.

"No way, I don't trust you driving!" Kit protested, glaring at Ian. "How about _you_ take notes for Kari?"

"Because," he answered calmly, rolling his eyes, "I'm not in her Biology class, only her history class. He's in both. it would be better if he did it."

"Ugh, stop fighting!" I interrupted, annoyed. "You both can stay here, and Kit will take me home! There! Problem solved! I'd feel weird alone with a boy anyway. Ah, you can drive, right Kit?"

"Uh, yeah, but..." Kit replied, glancing at her brother uncertainly.

"That's fine. So long as you are resting your ankle, it doesn't matter how you get home," Damian answered as he continued walking.

Ian opened his mouth to object, but he stopped when he saw me glare at him. I wasn't in the mood to hear any more arguing.

Damian set me down when we reached his car and handed the keys to Kit. Kit climbed into the driver's side as I slid into the passenger side.

She was frowning as she started the car and backed out. "Why didn't you just have Damian take you home?" she asked.

"Sorry, did you have other plans?" I asked hesitantly.

She shook her head. "No, it's just... I mean, you like him don't you?"

I coughed in surprise and have to take a moment to find my voice. Kit glanced over at me in concern. "Wha- Why do you say that?"

"Come on. You are not the first girl to make goo goo eyes at my brother," she answered, rolling her eyes. "Which way am I going, by the way?"

"Right, down Main. Take a left at Seventh," I answered automatically, chewing my lip. "Am I that obvious?" I asked.

"Not really. I wouldn't worry about it, it's not a bad thing to like someone," Kit tried to reassure me.

"Ugh. Does... does he know?" I asked fearfully.

She snorted. "Ha! No. He's denser than a stone when it comes to these things. He has girls hanging all over him, and all he can see is how annoying they are."

I groaned. "Great. I'm annoying..."

"You are not! I was talking about the other girls. He doesn't ignore you like he does them, does he?" she asked.

"I don't know. He doesn't talk much to me."

"That's just Damian being Damian. He doesn't talk a lot. That's not the same as ignoring you," she told me as we turned onto my street. "He is definitely not ignoring you."

"Well, there's my house right there," I told her, pointing.

"Okay," she answered, pulling into the driveway and parking.

"Stay right there," she warned before getting out and coming around to my side.

"You have two options. You can either lean on me as you walk; or, I can carry you the entire way. Walking by yourself is completely out of the question," she told me as she opened my door and held out a hand.

Scowling, I took her hand and let her support me as I stood up out of the car. "Yeesh, I'm not a baby. I don't think you could carry me up those stairs, so I'll take the leaning option."

Kit raised an eyebrow. "Is that a challenge?"

"No!"

She laughed. "Don't worry. I could easily carry you up the stairs, but I won't if you don't want me to," she told me as we made our way to the house.

"Right."

"Oh, hey. I hope you don't mind, but I'm curious. When's your birthday?" Kit asked as we climbed the front steps.

"Uhm... February 2nd. Why?"

"No reason. What kind of things do you like? Clothes? Jewelry? Flowers?"

"Eh. I'm more of a good book or movie type. Clothes are alright, not really big on flowers."

"Okay, what's your favorite color?"

"Bla- uh, I mean, purple," I grimaced at my slip up. Black was my favorite color; but, ever since my parents death, whenever I told someone that they'd assume I was suicidal or something. I just liked the color black. Was it that unusual?

"Were you just about to say black?" Kit asked, pausing at the door.

"Yeah," I answered, making a face. "I like black, but people think it's weird so I tell them I like purple. Purple's an okay color too."

"It's not weird," Kit told me as she opened the door and led me inside. There was an amused look on her face and I wondered why.

"Well, maybe _you_ don't think so," I countered.

"No, it's not," she said frowning. "You didn't hear it from me, but... black is Damian's favorite color too. Seriously, though, I never told you that. He'd kill me if he knew," she warned me, her voice serious.

I was surprised. "Really? I thought only goths, emo kids, and me liked it. That's assuming he isn't goth or emo?"

"I don't know what that means, but I don't think so," Kit answered, frowning as she helped me lower myself down to the couch. "Now, I need you to promise you won't strain your ankle or else I'm not leaving."

"Ugh. Fine. I promise. You guys.... I swear... who needs a mother when I have you?" I grumped, grabbing the TV remote.

A sudden thought occurred to me and I turned to Kit as she made her way to the door. All those questions about what I liked...

"Please tell me you're _not_ planning a birthday present for me or anything like that?" I pleaded.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," Kit said, feigning innocence as she winked at me. She quickly ducked out the door without waiting for my response.

* * *

_*~*~ A/N: So, I've got job interviews! Yay! I'll celebrate by posting a chapter. :D _

_Uhm, I'm still working on a review incentive. I'll mess around with the wacom tablet and see what I can come up with. It may come late, but there will be a review incentive. I promise._

_Also, I made a page with all the review incentives on it up to last chapter. So, if you've missed some and would like to see them please let me know in a review and I'll send you the link._

_Also, much thanks to Leon for betaing this again. He's awesome. Go read his stories. :D_

_-Lots of Loves_

_Pyroth*~*~_


	23. Mama Dragon

**23 - NAKA  
**

I was watching the twins as they wrestled with Emmett. They were trying to find new ways to ambush Kit and Damian when they came home from school, and they were using the vampires as their test dummies.

It was amusing, and I'd have paid more attention if I weren't watching two other things at that moment. Kohath was the first; he always came first.

He wasn't doing anything particularly interesting at that very moment. Just lecturing his class on the American revolutionary war. The lecture was much less exciting than the actual war. I would know, Kohath and I fought in it.

Of course we'd fought in practically every major war that came along. Kohath was a soldier at heart; he was still a little put out since I stopped taking him to the Middle East every week like I used to.

He didn't really fight for either side specifically, mostly concentrated on keeping innocents from being hurt. He viewed it as the job of all men to protect those that couldn't protect themselves.

Old fashioned, but he was over three thousand years old. At that age you had to have hobbies to keep you occupied or you'd go insane.

The second was me looking for a unicorn. I needed something to keep the twins distracted tomorrow. I couldn't let them go to Bella's birthday party, and they'd just sneak off if I didn't keep them busy.

Unfortunately, unicorns were incredibly hard to find. Even for me. I'd have to go with my back up plan. Ugh, I hated swimming. I turned the second scrying window's attention to the ocean. They wouldn't be difficult to find; they didn't move around a lot.

I heard the sound of Alice coming out of the house and returned my attention to my surroundings. I already knew what she was going to say, but I liked to pretend I didn't.

"Hey, Naka," Alice greeted me as she came over and sat down next to me.

"Hi, Alice," I answered as I watched Emmett pin Jaden to the ground.

"So, you know where having a party for Bella tomorrow," she started, "and I only see Kit there."

I smiled. "Perhaps it is because you've only invited Kit?" I mused.

"You know what I mean. I'll even officially invite you and your whole family right now," she told me then paused, probably scanning her visions. "You're still not coming," she frowned.

I chuckled, looking away to check on my scrying windows for a moment. Yeah, they were still there, planning their party. Ugh, looked like I was going swimming. I took a quick, paranoid glance to confirm my husband was still teaching his class without incident, and turned back to Alice.

"Sorry, we can't make it. Kiandra would be very upset if we missed Tiana's birthday party this year." Right on cue, Kia perked up from wrestling with Jasper and ran over.

"Really, mommy?! We're going to see Tiana tomorrow?" she asked excitedly.

"Uuuuuuugghhrlllarrrrguh....." I could tell that garble was Jaden without looking. I snickered.

"Not looking forward to seeing your sweet heart?" I teased.

"It's not funny!" Jaden growled, glaring at me. "What if she tries to kiss me again?! Bleh!" He made a face, and I grinned.

"Tiana...?" Alice asked, confused.

"Princess Tiana," I clarified, "is the daughter of King Poseidon, ruler of the mer-people. It's her birthday as well tomorrow. Tiana and Kiandra have been friends since they first met about twenty years ago. Jaden's just upset because she's taken a liking to him."

"Liking?!" Jaden snarled. "She thinks we're _engaged_!"

"Well, that's what you get when you say yes to a proposal," I told him, raising an eyebrow.

"She gave me a crown of seaweed and a shiny stick! I thought we were playing a game of pretend!" Jaden cried out. He turned his glare on Kia, who was curled up on the ground, laughing. "This is your fault too, you know. You could have warned me it was a trap."

"And miss the look on your face? No way!" Kia retorted through her giggles.

"If Jaden doesn't want to go, he could stay here and come with Kit to the party," Alice suggested, but then frowned. "You're going to say no. Why?" she asked frustrated.

I sighed, I couldn't exactly tell her that I didn't want my children to be traumatized by her mate trying to eat the birthday girl right in front of them. That would have raised some awkward questions, not to mention destroy the time line that was meant to happen. Kit being there would be bad enough, but it was an allowance I had to make for other various reasons.

Y_ou're messing with things you shouldn't... again._

If I hadn't been used to the voice in my head, I would have scowled. As it was, I barely managed to keep my face neutral. _Now is not a good time_, I told it.

_It's never a good time. If I let you choose when we talked, I would never get to say anything_, the voice replied dryly. _I was just keeping you aware of your situation. That is my job, after all. You're getting close to messing up. Now, carry on with your conversation. She's starting to wonder if you're ill._

_Technically, hearing voices in my head is a sign of illness_, I muttered back. I felt the voice mentally shrug back at me indifferently and I turned my attention back to Alice. She was looking at me curiously.

"Ah, sorry. I got... distracted," I apologized.

"What did you see?" she asked. It took me a split second to realize she thought I'd peered into the future. I shook my head.

"No, I didn't see anything. I was having an internal debate," I explained. I wondered if I should tell her about the sentinels. After all, Alice could see the future as well and manipulate it in her own way. They might have to monitor her as well.

_Oh we do, but her visions are spotty and easily manipulated_, the sentinel answered without being asked, A_lso, she doesn't go _looking_ for things to change like some people._

_Get out of my head_, I growled back.

_I wish. I don't like me being here anymore than you. However, I'd like to go to your little back-water time line in person even less. So, this is how things will be for now._

"You're right, though, I am going to say no," I answered Alice, ignoring the voice in my head for now. We would have words later, yes we would. "As insignificant as the alliance with the mer-folk is to me, it will be very important to Kia. If Jaden isn't there, it might upset them."

"Why is it insignificant to you?"

"Red dragons eat mer-folk. They taste delicious and are very nutritious. I, personally, haven't eaten any in centuries; they're hard to catch, and red dragons hate getting wet."

"Oh, I see," Alice pouted. "It's not going to be as much fun without you."

"Sorry," I apologized, shrugging.

Alice sighed. "I'm still pretty sure you're not coming because you saw something and are trying to avoid it. I can't even check because you're so dead set against coming," she told me, shaking her head.

I shrugged again. "If that's what you want to think." I watched as she gave up trying to get more of an answer out of me and went back to her party planning.

I went back to my scrying windows. The second one had found the merfolk, exactly where I expected them to be of course, and Koa's class had just let out.

Koa didn't age like other humans, and he looked young by human standards. Also, he was dead sexy; and that was not just my personal bias talking. He always had some of the more promiscuous female students stay after class to discuss the possibility of one-on-one 'tutoring.'

He turned them down as graciously as he could, ever patient with the young. If I had been there, I probably would have been... less gracious. Kohath was mine. I had no intentions of sharing.

I forced myself to look away as Koa brushed off the students and changed the perspective of the second window. It was getting late, and there was one more thing I had to take care of before the day was through.

* * *

_*~*~ A/N: Alright! I've officially got a job now. Yay! :) I'll celebrate with a chapter!_

_Review incentive isn't up yet, but I'll have something done soon. Have to do it tonight because I'll be at work all day tomorrow._

_LEON IS BEST BETA EVAH~!! If he'd only write something I'd be able to read every once in a while. :( Pyroth no like lemons. /sad face_

_Well, read and review please! Either way, I hope you enjoy my story._

_-More loves_

_Pyroth*~*~_


	24. Dreams and Wolves

**Damian:**

"Damian, wake up!"

I jerked awake at the sound of my sister's voice right in my ear. We were in a tree just outside Kari's house, both in cat form.

Kit had been making it a habit of coming with me all weekend. She said she needed to do research on the 'enemy', and I didn't care enough to ask more about it. She was annoying; but it was cold and rainy more days than not, and red dragons were warm. She probably wouldn't leave even if I told her to, so I put up with it.

"Jeez, this is the second time I've caught you asleep. Are you sure you're eating properly..." she trailed off, frowning as I stared blankly at the tree branch in front of me. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure," I answered distractedly as I sorted through the various images in my head. "I think... I was dreaming."

"Wait... and you remember it?" Kit asked, wide-eyed. We had dreams, we knew that when we were little and would wake up with nightmares, but we never remembered them after waking up. Except this one.

I nodded and Kit's tail twitched excitedly. "Really? Tell me about it!" she demanded.

"It wasn't very clear... we were in danger and running from something. I don't know what."

"We meaning... I was there?" Kit asked, curious.

I paused uncertain, trying to remember. "I don't know. It was me and someone else. We were being chased by something..." I frowned as I tried to sort it all out. I got the impression of giant dogs, but that didn't make sense.

"Well... Mom did say dragons dream the future. I don't know what to make of your dream though," she frowned in disappointment.

"Neither do I," I answered, turning my attention to the house and the girl inside. She was doing her chores, washing dishes at that moment. I wanted nothing more than to go over there and wrap her in my arms. I couldn't, though, and it was driving me crazy.

"So," I heard Kit start, and I turned back to her. "Have you been eating lately?" she questioned.

I frowned, not wanting to answer. "Yes."

"When?" she prodded, her eyes narrowing skeptically.

I sighed. "Wednesday," I admitted, bracing myself for the lecture that was going to follow.

"Wednesday?!" she hissed, struggling to keep her voice down. "Damian! This isn't like China, where we were fairly inactive and could get away with eating once a week. We're active! Shifting at least once a day! No wonder I keep finding you asleep."

I remained silent as she fumed at me. She wasn't done yet, I knew, she was just catching her breath and forming her next arguments. Kit's glare intensified as she went on.

"It's because you don't like leaving Kari alone while you eat isn't it?," she guessed. I didn't reply; it wouldn't change anything if I did.

"You're starting to hibernate, Damian. What good are you as a protector if you're asleep?" she scowled at me.

I sensed she was finally done, and shrugged. "I'm fine, I will eat when I need to," I told her.

She growled in frustration, but said nothing as we lapsed into an uncomfortable silence. Silence rarely lasted long with Kit around.

"Well, I just came here to check up on you, actually," she spoke up after only a few moments. "I have to finish Bella's present for her birthday tomorrow."

"Then go," I told her. She gave me one last look before slinking off into the shadows. I didn't understand her fascination with the humans, but I wasn't exactly one to speak considering my current situation.

I settled down to watch the girl. She was doing her homework in the front room with her grandmother. It was a worksheet questionnaire on the chapter we went over in the book. Fairly simple, though she seemed to be having trouble with it.

I turned my attention to the outside, and prepared for a long night. It was unlikely that anything would happen, and I hoped it wouldn't either, but I was trying to stay awake. I could go weeks without sleep normally, but only if I hunted regularly. Kit was right; I should probably eat something soon.

In spite of my intent to stay awake, I found myself inevitably drifting off to sleep. I didn't even notice until I suddenly sat up, bolt awake, and found it was already well past dark.

Disoriented, I berated myself for drifting off as I tried to get my bearings. What had wakened me? It was something.... oh. What the... what was _that_? My head turned towards the source of immense heat but I couldn't see anything.

Unnerved, I tried to hear or smell it, but it was down wind, and it was so quiet that even I couldn't hear anything. I probably wouldn't have even known it was there if not for the sheer amount of heat it gave off. Kit only gave off that much heat when she was really worked up.

I sat very still as I focused intently on it with the odd heat sensing ability all dragons were born with. Only when it moved did I hear the slightest rustling and see a flash of movement.

I was still trying to puzzle out what it was when I heard something that made me stiffen. The door to the house was opening, and out Kari stepped with a bag of trash, to judge by the smell. A bit late to be doing chores, but she probably forgot until now; that would explain why she was in her pajamas and slippers.

My mind raced as it tried to figure out what to do. The odd heat source was moving closer to Kari and I was torn between defending her or attacking it. I was going to choose to attack it, and hopefully avoid revealing myself to Kari, when another heat source appeared on the other side.

My decision made for me, I jumped from the tree and landed in a defensive position in front of Kari. I hissed a warning to the trees, hoping they would back off.

"Aww, such a cute little kitty!"

I had forgotten to anticipate Kari's reaction. I wasn't expecting her to pick me up; I was too busy watching out for an attack. I froze in uncertainty as she hugged and cuddled me.

It was nice, and I probably would not have been able to free myself if it weren't for the giant wolf that suddenly burst from the trees. It crouched low and growled threateningly at us.

In an instant, I'd twisted out of her arms and was in half-dragon form before my feet hit the ground. Full dragon form would be better for such a large enemy, but I was too close to Kari.

I heard her gasp behind me, but stayed focus on the wolf in front of me. The second one was still hiding in the trees behind it, and I was trying to decide if I should stay and fight, or take the girl and run.

Running was probably the better option; I didn't know how strong these wolves were. Gathering electricity in my hand, I sent a bolt of lightning at the wolf as a distraction. It wasn't expecting it, and it went flying backwards into the trees with a surprised yelp.

As quickly and carefully as I could manage, I snatched up Kari and ran. I could already sense the wolf recovering and running after us, and the other one was right behind it. These things were tough; I'd have to be careful.

In my arms, Kari was shaking. From fear, or cold, or possibly both, I didn't know; but it hurt to think I was probably frightening her and that she might hate me after this. Her safety came first, though, and I would deal with the consequences after.

I was barely a mile away from the house when I was forced to skid to an immediate halt. A _third_ hot spot had appeared in front of us, how many of these things were there?

I quickly changed directions to avoid a possible ambush. I didn't know how intelligent they were, but normal wolves were excellent pack hunters, it made sense that these would be no different.

I glanced down at Kari, she was shaking still and had her eyes clamped shut. I'd have to end this quickly. I glanced up at the sky; it was cloudy out tonight, and it was dark. I could fly with little chance of being seen by humans. It would be the most effective way to lose them.

I was going to take off at the next clearing, it would be faster if there weren't any tree branches in the way, but there was something there. I growled low as I came to halt in front of the woman sitting in the clearing on a log.

"What are _you_ doing here?"

"Tsk. Is that any way to speak to your mother?" Naka answered with mock offense. "I came to help, of course," she explained, hopping down from the log.  
"I don't have time for your games," I snapped at her, irritated.

She sighed, for once looking weary. "No, you don't." She walked past me and stared into the woods. "Don't worry about the wolves. This is just a minor mix up. I should have taken care of this sooner, but I'll clear it up now."

I could sense the wolves had arrived and were surrounding us. It didn't matter, though; there wasn't anything in existence I knew of that could match Naka in a fight. I knew from experience, she didn't even have to change forms to render me unconscious. I didn't pick fights with her anymore, it was embarrassing.

"Damian, you should do something about Kari, she's freezing; and don't leave, I need to speak with you after this," Naka told me as she turned towards the trees. "Sam, would you come out here please? There's been a little misunderstand-"

What happened next was difficult for me to tell, I had not seen Naka move that fast in a long time. The wolves attacked; and I prepared to defend Kari, but it was unnecessary.

Two of them came after me, the third went after Naka. One moment, I was tensing to fight; the next, Kari and I were completely surrounded by a red scaled wall. Naka had taken dragon form, and had her tail wrapped around us.

She was a lot bigger than I remembered. She towered over the tree tops, and her head was about the size of a small house. It took her almost no effort to pin down all 3 wolves at once; one under each front claw and one in her mouth.

In my arms, I felt Kari stiffen in surprise. She probably had no idea what was going on, I was dreading having to explain things to her. She'd been surprisingly quiet the whole time.

Naka spat the wolf out of her mouth. "Bleh, now I've got dog hair in my mouth..." she muttered, spitting out fire. She dropped the other two wolves and turned her attention towards the large black one.

"Now, contrary to popular belief, I cannot actually read minds," Naka told the wolf, "So, if you don't mind, I'd rather we had our conversation in forms that could speak." As she was talking, she shrank back down to human form.

"I'll wait here while you go change," she continued, staring at them pointedly. I didn't quite understand why they had to go elsewhere to shape shift, but Naka seemed quite insistent on that point. I frowned uneasily as the wolves stayed motionless for a few moments, growling at Naka.

Naka didn't seem interested in the other two as she remained focused on the large black one. It wasn't growling, but it did shift its gaze away from Naka to stare at me.

I would have tightened my hold on Kari, but it was already pretty tight, and I didn't want to risk hurting her. Instead, I stared back evenly.

I was a little surprised to find my usual fit of fury that cropped up whenever I faced a possible fight was hardly acting up at all. It was there, but subdued. It wasn't threatening to overwhelm my senses. I was grateful for that. I never wanted to be anywhere near Kari when I frenzied.

I quickly put that thought out of my head as the black wolf returned his gaze to Naka. He lowered his head once, briefly, before turning back towards the trees and leaving.

"And now we wait," I heard Naka sigh, bored. I fought the urge to growl. Didn't she take anything seriously? The other two wolves were still there, but they'd stopped growling and were content to sit and watch. I got the feeling that they were meant to be sentries possibly.

"Damian," Naka called to me, "Kari. She's cold. Do something about it." The calm in my fury threatened to crack at her tone, but I resisted the urge to growl and snap something back at her. I reluctantly looked down at Kari; I wasn't looking forward to seeing her reaction to all of this.

"Are you alright?" I asked as I set her on her feet.

"Well... this isn't the weirdest dream I've ever had; but it is one of the better ones so far," she answered, glancing between the wolves and Naka curiously. Dream? She thought this was a dream. I didn't know whether to be relieved or even more worried.

"I am pretty cold, though. I didn't know you could be cold in your dreams. Is that your mother?"

I grimaced at the mention of Naka, as I began the shift from cold to warm blooded. It was uncomfortable for me to be so warm, and it also sped up my metabolism. I was already pushing my limits of hunger; it would become twice as hard as a warm blood. I was definitely going hunting after this.

"Not by choice; but, yes. Biologically she is my mother," I replied.

"You don't get along with your mother?" Kari asked, looking sad. "She doesn't seem so bad to me. Didn't she just help us with the wolves?"

I didn't like where this conversation was going. "It's... complicated. Besides, she only came to help because it was her mistake that got us into this mess in the first place." I turned to glare at Naka, but she was carefully avoiding my gaze.

"People make mistakes. At least she's trying to fix hers. Isn't that enough?"

"There are certain mistakes that can't be fixed," I answered carefully. Of all the topics she could choose to talk about she picked my least favorite.

She sighed as frowned at the ground. "Sorry, I don't mean to pry. I just don't like hearing about kids that don't get along with their parents, it's one of my pet peeves."

I didn't know how to reply to that so I stayed silent. She continued to stare at the ground, rubbing her arms for warmth, and I reached out and pulled her back into my arms. "Sorry, I forget about the cold. I can't really feel it."

"Oh, you're warm now!" Kari exclaimed. It surprised me when she wrapped her arms around me in return. "This dream would be better if I weren't in my jammies," she muttered.

I heard a low growl and my eyes flickered up at the wolf staring at us with bared fangs. Instinctively, I tightened my grip slightly on Kari and growled back at him.

"Damian, Paul, calm down," Naka soothed, turning to face us. "Sam is just about here. Damian, you and Kari don't really need to be here for this, so why don't you take Kari home where she will be safe?"

I hesitated, reluctant to take advice from my mother, but she was rarely ever wrong. "She'll be safe there?"

Naka nodded, "They're after you, not her. They were trying to protect her from you. You may not have noticed, but you're a pretty scary monster, Damian."

There was a snarl of protest from the wolf and Naka rolled her eyes. She turned to the woods where I could barely make out a man stepping into the clearing. He was warm, like the wolves, which made me suspect he wasn't really a human.

"Sam," Naka spoke, addressing the man, "Would it be alright with you if you sent one of your pack mates to escort my son and the girl back to her house where she belongs. I do not think it is necessary that she be here."

Sam was silent for a moment, "How do we know you aren't just trying separating us?"

Naka sighed, "I wouldn't have to separate you to kill you. Here is what's going to happen; Damian is going to return the girl to her home. You can have one of your wolves follow or not. I''ll stop you if you try to attack, and I can hold you here indefinitely."

She turned back to me and nodded, "Damian?"

I frowned and glanced down at Kari, "Do you want to go home?"

She sighed, "If I have to. It is really cold out here." She didn't remove her arm from around my neck as I picked her up and headed back towards her house.

It was slower going back; and I could sense one of the wolves had broken off to follow us, but it kept it's distance. Fortunately, we weren't that far out, and it wouldn't take too long to get back.

"Black scales, huh? Kit said your favorite color was black. Can you turn into a dragon like your mother?" Kari asked curiously.

"We don't just turn into dragons, we are dragons," I told her, "Kit told you my favorite color was black?" I scowled. Of course Kit would say that.  
"Yeah, but only after I let slip my favorite color was black. How come you're black and your mother is red? Do you pick your color?"

I shook my head, "Dragons are hatched a specific color, and usually prefer that color over others."

"Hatched?"

I nodded, "Yes, baby dragons are hatched from eggs."

"Hmm." Kari went quiet for the rest of the journey. When we got to her house, I set her down so she could go inside. She didn't let go of me right away, hanging onto me for a moment longer before letting go and turning to the door to her house.

"I suppose it's time to wake up now," she said wistfully, disappearing inside.

I stood outside for a bit before turning back towards the trees. I leaned against a trunk as I decided what to do. Stay and watch over Kari, or go back and see what Naka was up to.

I would stay, of course. I didn't really care what Naka was up to so long as the wolves were no longer a danger to Kari. I shifted back to cat form and found a perch to wait from while I carefully observed the hot spot on my senses that was the wolf.

We were like that for an hour or so before the wolf left suddenly. Not long after that Naka came to me in cat form. She leapt to my branch to sit smugly beside me.

"I sorted it all out. I explained what we are and the whole situation with you and Kari. They actually have a similar relationship with their mates so it wasn't too difficult to get them to understand. How did things go with Kari?"

I shrugged, "She thinks it was all a dream."

Naka frowned, "She's going to have to know the truth eventually."

"If she even wants to be with me," I muttered.

"I've seen the possible futures, Damian, and the ones that don't have you and her together are either because of death or because you decide to be an idiot and give up without trying," she growled at me.

"Death?" I hissed, my eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Calm down, death is always a possibility. It's not a very high possibility but it's there, and I'm working very hard to keep that from happening. Speaking of which, I have another spell to teach you."

"I don't want it. I don't need your help to protect Kari," I snapped at her.

"Oh, but I think you'll like this one," she sing-songed, undaunted.

"No." I snarled, warning her to back off.

"It'll keep Edward from reading your and Kari's minds."

My protests died on my tongue as I thought that over. That was... too tempting to pass up.

Naka watched me wrestle over the idea in my mind in amusement. She knew what I would decide. Glaring daggers at her I reluctantly agreed to let her teach me.

* * *

_*~*~Author's Note: Okay so, I know it's been a while. I'm sorry, it just took forever to write this chapter. I got distracted with other stories and job hunting and other things. I did have some fun writing this chapter though. Hopefully it's not too fragmented or rushed. It's hard to pick up writing a chapter after not writing for a few months or so._

_I'm also posting this without a beta for the last bit of it. I'm on vacation and can't get a hold of the people I usually have beta, but thanks to Leon and TRD for betaing the first bit of it! They were wonderful. Anyways, pretty please review! I'd love to hear what you guys think of my little story. ^^ _

_Review incentive is a small little side story that I wrote for Leon a while back. It's cute and funny. I can't really do a picture as my wacom tablet is at home and I don't have easy access to a scanner, but I think this little ficlet is better.*~*~_


	25. Birthday Morning

**KIT -**

I was positively bouncing with excitement as I waited with Alice and Edward next to the shiny silver Volvo. It was Bella's birthday today and I wanted to be one of the first to greet her. My family didn't really celebrate birthdays, so I was really curious to see what a birthday party would be like.

I was certain my mind must have been giving Edward a headache with all the rampant childish thoughts I couldn't keep from buzzing through my head. It got worse when the familiar red truck came into sight as it pulled into the parking lot.

I skipped up with Alice as she went to greet Bella. She was almost as excited as I was. "Happy Birthday!" we chorused together.

"Shh!" she hissed at us, glancing around nervously. My smile faltered at her tone.

"Do you want to open your present now or later?" Alice asked as we turned to walk Bella back to Edward.

"No presents," she protested. I began to worry that we were doing something wrong by celebrating her birthday, but I really wanted to give her my birthday present; I'd worked so hard on it.

"Okay... later, then. Did you like the scrapbook your mom sent you? And the camera from Charlie?"

Bella sighed. "Yeah, they're great."

I glanced in alarm at Edward. Were we not supposed to celebrate Bella's birthday?

"_I _think it's a nice idea. You're only a senior once. Might as well document the experience," Alice was saying to Bella. She seemed completely at ease with Bella's unwillingness to celebrate. I would ask Alice and Edward about it later.

"How many times have _you_ been a senior?"

"That's different."

We reached Edward then, and Bella transferred from our company to his. They were a cute couple, and it made me long for a relationship of my own. Maybe I'd let one of those boys that flirted with me take me out on a date. Damian was so distracted these days, he probably wouldn't even notice.

They had continued their conversation while my mind had wandered off and they were talking about growing old. Apparently that was why Bella didn't like birthdays. She felt old? That was silly. She was by far the youngest one here.

"What time will you be at the house?" Alice brought up lightly. I waited for Bella's answer almost as eagerly as Alice did. So the party _was_ still on. Good.

"I didn't know I had plans to be there," Bella said carefully.

"Oh, be fair, Bella!" Alice complained. "You aren't going to ruin all our fun like that, are you?"

"Yeah!" I chimed in. "I was really looking forward to it too!"

"I thought my birthday was about what _I_ want."

I paused at that logic. I didn't want to make her do anything she didn't want to do... but... the birthday party. I wanted it.

"I'll get her from Charlie's right after school," Edward assured us.

"I have to work," Bella protested.

"You don't, actually," Alice told her smugly. "I already spoke to Mrs. Newton about it. She's trading your shifts. She said to tell you 'Happy Birthday.'"

Bella opened her mouth to protest again, but a voice interrupted our conversation as I heard my name shouted from not too far away.

"Kit!" I turned to see Kari coming towards us. I glanced around but didn't see Damian anywhere, thankfully.

"Hi, Kari!" I greeted back, trying not to look anxious as I glanced at Edward. His expression was blank as he stared at Kari.

"Ian's sick today, and I was feeling a bit lonely over there by myself, so I decided to come over here. I'm not intruding, am I?" she asked nervously.

"Not at all!" I said, wrapping my arm around her shoulders securely. Mostly so that if Damian came by I could claim it was all my idea, but also because Edward and Alice _were_ vampires. No offense, but I planned on being between them and her just in case.

"Have you met Edward, Alice and Bella yet?" I asked, indicating them each in turn.

"Not really. I've heard about them, but haven't actually spoken to any of them yet," Kari told me, then turned to look at the others curiously.

"Well, you should. They're just about the nicest people ever. Guys, this is Kari. She's my brother's lab partner."

They already knew this, of course, but I was buying time so I could think of a way to politely get Kari away from them. Why hadn't Edward or Alice warned me about her coming like they usually did?

"Hello, Kari," Edward greeted her warmly. "Normally, we'd stay and talk, but Bella and I must excuse ourselves." He turned and proceeded to walk Bella to their first class.

"Don't mind them Kari, they just want some alone time today. It's Bella's birthday," Alice spoke.

"Oh, I didn't even say happy birthday," Kari answered nervously.

"Don't worry about it, Bella doesn't seem to be willing to even celebrate it today," I said,

frowning.

"Ha. She's celebrating it today whether she wants to or not," Alice assured me with a determined gleam in her eyes.

Kari giggled. "You sound like you're planning a kidnapping."

"If I have to," Alice replied seriously.

I smiled. "Remind me to never try to thwart your fun, Alice."

"You'd better not," she threatened, giving me a stern look. Suddenly, her gaze focused on something behind me and surprise flashed across her face. Surprise? On Alice? I would have turned around, but the person behind me spoke and I didn't have to.

"Better not what?" Damian questioned. The dangerous calm in his voice sent ice down my spine. Holy cow, he was ticked. I put on the best 'cute and innocent little sister' face I could muster and turned to face my brother.

"Big brother!" I threw my arms around his neck and hung there. "Good morning!" His gaze didn't move an inch from Alice. This was not good.

"Well, I think it's time I went to class. Nice to meet you Kari, and see you all later," Alice spoke quickly as she turned on one heel and left. Kari watched her go in surprise.

"Did I do something...?" she wondered aloud.

"No," I assured her, dropping from my grip around my brother's neck. "Damian just doesn't get along with the Cullens very well." I shot my brother a glare.

He ignored it. "We should get to class as well, Kit."

"Fine," I snapped annoyed. I didn't understand why he was rushing us off to class rather than talk to Kari, but I was too annoyed to ask.

I turned to smile at Kari. "I'll see you later Kari." I waved and headed toward the school.

"I'll walk with you guys," Kari offered. "No sense staying out here by myself."

Damian looked uncomfortable, and Kari kept glancing at him thoughtfully. I resolved silently to corner one of them and make them tell me what was going on.

That chance came on my way to lunch when I spotted Kari across the quad on her way to the cafeteria.

"Kari!" I called out in greeting as I approached and ushered her into a somewhat secluded corner off to the side. She looked surprised to see me; probably because I was being a little bit careless about forcing myself to make noise and I was moving a little bit faster than I should have.

"Uh, hi Kit, I didn't see you..."

"Yeah, I get that a lot. Anyways, what's going on between you and my brother? You guys were acting funny this morning," I asked bluntly.

Kari blushed and stammered, "Uh, we were? I didn't even notice." She bit her lip nervously. "We should get in line for lunch before-"

"Kari, don't change the subject. If you don't tell me, I'm just going to pounce on my brother later and demand it from him," I told her stubbornly, folding my arms. If I'd had my tail out, it would have been twitching with impatience.

Kari grimaced. "It's just a silly dream I had last night; he probably doesn't even know about it."

"Oh? What dream?" I asked curiously.

She hesitated, and I really fought hard to be patient. I couldn't help but start tapping my foot as she fought with herself whether to tell me or not. Like I was going to settle for her not telling me.

She sighed. "Promise you won't think I'm crazy?"

"Promise. Why would I think that?"

"It's just... sometimes I have really weird dreams."

"Okay, I've been warned. Please go on," I urged.

"Well, so, last night I went to take out the trash like normal; I didn't realize I was dreaming at the time. Out of the bushes came a small black cat."

My tapping foot and impatient expression froze in place as she went on.

"I thought it was just a stray that had wandered into the yard so I picked it up."

"Wait, you picked up a stray cat?" I asked incredulous. I just couldn't see Damian suffering himself to held by anything. Maybe it really had been just a dream?

"Well, it was so cute; and black is my favorite color." She shrugged.

Damian. Cute. If the situation hadn't been so serious I would have cracked up. _  
_

_Just a dream_, I reminded myself. I urged Kari to go on.

"Well, the cat jumped out of my arms and turned into Damian right in front of me."

Or not.

"The cat... turned into my brother," I stated numbly.

"Yeah, that wasn't the weirdest part, though; he grew wings and a tail too."

"Wow. That would certainly make me look at my brother oddly too. It was just a dream, though, right?" I was going to hunt down my brother and demand answers out of him after this.

"I think so; but I did wake up with this." She showed me her hand where there were three small scratches. "It's the same spot where the cat scratched me in the dream."

We were silent for a moment and I was having trouble finding something to say. My brother was an idiot. That I knew for certain. I just didn't know what I could safely say to Kari.

She bit her lip again and looked away. "I probably just scratched it on my bed post or something," she said unconvincingly.

"It's possible," I agreed, equally unconvincingly. "We should go to lunch now."

"Yeah."

I walked Kari to the cafeteria and excused myself when she reached the line. I had to find my brother, and I had to find him now. Whatever happened last night, he needed to know this; and I needed to know if I could start spilling secrets to Kari.

I searched everywhere for my brother. His classes, the lunchroom, the school roof. I didn't find him anywhere. I didn't see him after school, and I didn't see him at home either. I would have gone to Kari's place, but I had to get ready for Bella's party.

Frustrated, I scribbled a note and left it for him in the unlikely event that he came home. We were home just the two of us since Mom had taken everyone else to the mermaid birthday party. I was greatly relieved to not have to go this year, but I was annoyed that my mother wasn't here to help solve this.

I quickly finished wrapping Bella's gift before taking off for the Cullen's house. I would find my brother after the party. I was going to get some answers, and I wasn't going to take no as one of them.

_~*~*Author's Note: Alright another chapter finished! Go me. It's short, I'm sorry, I'm working on longer chapters, the next chapter will be longer I promise. The party itself was going to need it's own chapter so I had to cut this one short._

_The next chapter contains Bella's birthday party and the infamous events that transpire there. Should be exciting. The review incentive for this chapter isn't ready yet, I'll do a quick drawing and send it out later as soon as I figure out what to draw._

_Thank you for taking the time to read my little story, and I hope to hear from you all in a review._

_Lots of love to my readers,_

_-Pyroth ~*~*_


	26. Fire Dance

**KIT -**

I landed in the Cullen's yard where Alice was waiting for me. The house looked nice, Rosalie was arranging bowls of pink roses on the stairs. In Alice's arms were a bunch of Japanese lanterns; they brought back some memories of festival nights on the mountain side.

"Hey Kit," Alice greeted me, trading my present for the armful of lanterns. "Edward and Bella arranged to start a little later than planned. That's okay, it gives me more time to prepare. Would you hang these up on the porch and light them?"

"Sure," I replied. I skipped over to the porch, not even bothering to shift all the way to human form. It really felt like a festival as I hung each lantern carefully. I should have worn a yukata, but I wasn't about to head back and dig my traditional formal wear out of storage.

Instead, I contented myself with a dance. It was tradition for my siblings and I to dance at every festival. Well, Damian used to dance when he was younger, but not anymore.

I stepped out into the yard and began the fire dance I'd made up myself. It changed every time I performed it, but this was the first time I was doing it by myself. Usually there were plenty of kitsune vying to dance with me. Kitsune, fox spirits, loved the attention almost as much as I did, and they were excellent dancers.**  
**

Music filled my mind as golden fire flowed from my finger tips to wind around me. Forest creatures gathered at the edge of trees to watch and I smiled. When a dragon danced, the spirits stirred. They wouldn't stir much, though, the local land deity was asleep.

As I danced, I was surprised when two foxes jumped out of the underbrush to join me. They were unlike any kitsune I'd ever seen; kitsune were shapeshifters preferred human forms with long flowing robes and painted masks when they danced. These ones were naked, and didn't take human form. Colorful feathers and stone beads decorated their fur; and their dancing was different as well.

I smiled and changed my steps to match theirs. It was good to know I had fox friends here as well. It got darker, and the foxes' blue fox fire joined mine. Fox fire was usually just an illusion, but they could make it real if the need arose.

The dance came to a close and we stopped. I bowed gratefully to them and thanked them in Japanese. They probably didn't understand my words, but they got the sentiment and bowed in return. They thanked me in their own language; which I could only assume was Native American, I didn't really recognize it.

The sound of clapping startled the foxes and they turned to snarl at the intruders before disappearing in a flash of fox fire. The creatures gathered at the edge of the forest scattered into the woods as well leaving me alone.

I sighed and turned to face the Cullens who had gathered on the porch to watch.

"I've never seen anything like that," Esme commented.

"It's a shame Bella missed it on her birthday," Alice added.

"Oh, you're right!" I exclaimed. "Shoot. I should have waited until Bella was here. I'm sorry, the lamps just made me so nostalgic. They probably won't come back, though; not if they know you guys are watching. Most spirits fear the cold ones, and not many like humans much either."

"That's disappointing. You'll have to show her another time then," Alice replied. "But in the mean time, you should finish lighting those lamps and get inside. Bella and Edward are on their way."

"Okay." I followed them inside, pausing momentarily to reach up and light each lamp with a touch.

Inside was almost as beautiful as the outside. More rose bowls lined the room, and there was a scrumptious looking cake on the table that had been placed beside the grand piano. The presents were also stacked on the table next to some glass plates I assumed were for the cake.

Alice directed me over to where she and the rest of the family were going to stand as we heard the crunch of Bella's large truck in the driveway. It seemed like forever before the door opened.

"Happy Birthday!" we all called out as one. She blushed and looked down; at least she wasn't angry. I'd been afraid she'd be in a bad mood after how she reacted this morning.

Edward wrapped his arms around her waste and kissed her forehead softly as Esme and Carlisle moved forward to greet her with hugs.

"Sorry about this, Bella," Carlisle whispered loudly. "We couldn't reign Alice in."

I took my turn next, stepping over to hug Bella as well. "It's a wonderful party! I'm sorry you missed my dance earlier. I'll dance again later if you want, but it won't be as good without the kitsune."

"There's going to be dancing?" Bella asked, her voice almost panicking.

I pulled away frowning. "I said I was going to dance. Do you not like dancing?"

"Not when I'm the one doing it," she muttered darkly.

Edward stepped in to explain as I was hopelessly confused. "Bella doesn't like to dance because she thinks she will trip and injure herself. I'm sure she would love to watch you dance, Kit."

"Oh, okay. Later, then; after cake and presents," I said stepping back. Behind me, Emmett stood up and slipped past us to the door.

"I have to step out for a second," he winked at Alice, and I glanced between the two curiously. "Don't do anything funny while I'm gone."

"I'll try," Bella responded, frowning suspiciously.

"Time to open presents!" Alice announced, stepping forward to lead Bella to the table that held the cake and gifts.

"Oh! Oh! Open mine first! Please?" I begged, stepping forward to pick up my gift and hand it to her. It was the only one wrapped in red and gold instead of silver.

Bella glanced at Alice before unwrapping the small flat box I'd given her. She opened it and stared at the golden bracelet inside.

"Wow, it's beautiful, Kit." She tilted the box so the light gleamed across the intricate dragon I'd spent hours carving into the soft gold with my claws.

"I made it myself," I said proudly, "Put it on!"

She took it out of the box and slipped it on her wrist, and her eyes widened in surprise. "It's warm."

I nodded, enthusiastically. "Yep! I don't know much magic, but I know how to make things warm. Mom helped me make the enchant permanent, as well as magically reinforced the gold to make it tougher. Now you won't be so cold when you're cuddling Mr. Iceman over there." I jerked a thumb at Edward, making a face.

"Gold? It wasn't expensive was it?" Bella asked suddenly anxious. I blinked in surprise, caught off balance. Was I wrong to have made it out of gold...?

"It didn't cost her any money, Bella," Edward interrupted again. "The dragons have mountains of gold and other treasure that they have accumulated over time. She just molded some into a bracelet. To Kit it was something she made with materials she had lying around."

While that was technically true, he made it sound like I had given her something cheap. Dragons did not part with their gold easily; gold was precious to us. Still, it seemed to make Bella more ready to accept my gift so I stayed quiet.

"Open this one next," Alice instructed, handing Bella a big square silver box. A glimpse at the tag told me it was from Emmett, Jasper and Rosalie.

Bella opened it, and glanced inside confused. The box was empty?

"Um... thanks."

I jumped in surprise when Jasper started laughing. "It's a stereo for your truck," he explained. "Emmett's installing it right now so that you can't return it."

"Thanks, Jasper, Rosalie," Bella told them. "Thanks, Emmett!" she called out a little louder. Emmett's booming laugh came from outside in response.

"Open mine and Edward's next," Alice said, the excitement making her voice a high-pitched trill.

Bella turned to glare at Edward, "You promised."

Emmett came back inside before Edward could answer, taking a spot next to Jasper who had come closer than usual to get a good look. "Just in time."

"I didn't spend a dime," Edward assured Bella.

Bella sighed and held her hand out for the present. "Give it to me."

Alice placed the small package in Bella's hands, and Bella rolled her eyes at Edward as she jerked her finger under the tape.

"Shoot." The tape left a small cut on her finger, and then everything started happening really fast. A drop of blood oozed from the cut, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Jasper's face turn feral and start to charge.

I would have intervened, but Edward was there first. He knocked Bella back across the table and intercepted Jasper's charge with a loud crash that left my ears ringing.

Jasper was snarling as he struggled to get past Edward, and I leapt over the table to see to Bella. She was lying in a mess of cake and shattered crystal.

I took a quick glance back to make sure Jasper was secured, and was relieved to see Emmett stepping up to pin Jasper. I returned my attention to Bella and blanched. Blood was flowing at an alarming rate from the large jagged wound in Bella's arm.

I quickly assessed the situation; Bella, a human, was bleeding in a room full of vampires. My protective instincts took over, and I was already shifting into dragon form as I turned to face the threat. I crouched defensively, baring my fangs as I growled a warning to those who would approach.

"Emmett, Rose, get Jasper outside," Carlisle ordered in a soft calm voice.

"Come on, Jasper," Emmett urged, pulling the still struggling Jasper to the door.

I barely heard them speaking as my eyes darted from one vampire to another. I had been focusing mainly on Jasper, but now my gaze turned to Edward who was moving closer, he stopped when I growled louder.

I was fairly small, for a dragon, but my neck spines still brushed the ceiling. Dragons were most comfortable outside, and being indoors was only adding to my anxiety.

Carlisle came over next to Edward and spoke to me. "It's alright, Kit," he soothed. "Edward and I are in control of ourselves. I'm a doctor; let us through so I can treat Bella's injury."

His calm logic pierced through my protective feral instincts and I slowly shifted back to half-dragon form so I could step aside to let him pass.

I went to crouch behind Bella so I could still watch over her without getting in the way. Glancing around the room, I noticed all the others had left except for Alice, Edward and Carlisle. I started to calm down a little bit, and could more easily focus on the conversation they were having around me.

"I'll get your bag," Alice was saying as she left the room.

"Let's take her to the kitchen table," Carlisle told Edward.

I followed them as Edward carried Bella and Carlisle pressed some of the torn table cloth against Bella's arm.

"How are you doing, Bella?" Carlisle asked.

"I'm fine," Bella answered, but we could all hear the slight quiver in her voice even though she tried to hide it.

Alice had already set up the kitchen for Carlisle. His bag was on the table and abright desk lamp was plugged in nearby to provide light. Edward placed Bella gently on a chair as Carlisle pulled up another chair beside her. I went to stand next to Edward, behind Bella.

Edward was making me nervous. He hadn't spoken a word since, and I was fairly certain he wasn't breathing.

"You should leave, Edward," I suggested. He ignored me.

"Just go, Edward," Bella sighed.

"I can handle it," he insisted.

"You don't need to be a hero," Bella persisted, "Carlisle can fix me up without help. Get some fresh air. You should go too, Kit."

I shook my head, "No, I have to stay. It's against my nature to leave you here, injured as you are, with any vampire. Even if it's only Carlisle."

Bella winced when Carlisle started pulling some of the larger chunks of glass out of her arm, and Edward's expression hardened.

"I'll stay," he said.

"Why are you so masochistic?" Bella mumbled.

"Edward," Carlisle interrupted." You may as well go find Jasper before he gets too far. I'm sure he's upset with himself and I doubt he'll listen to anyone but you right now."

"Yes, go find Jasper," Bella urged.

"You might as well do something useful," Alice added.

"Please leave, Edward. You're driving me crazy," I put in.

Edward narrowed his eyes at us, but eventually he nodded and left through the kitchen door. I turned my attention to watching Alice and Carlisle carefully. I kept an eye out for any sign of weakness in their will power.

Eventually, Alice left, which left just me, Bella and Carlisle. I sighed in relief, relaxing a little.

"Well, that's everyone," Bella sighed. "I can clear a room, at least."

I sat on the table to watch Carlisle pull bits of glass out of her wound. "I'm still here."

"Yeah, because you have to be," she muttered darkly.

"Because I'm your friend, and I won't allow anything else to happen to you," I corrected.

"It's not your fault," Carlisle put in, talking to Bella. "It could happen to anyone."

"_Could_," Bella repeated, "But it usually just happens to me."

Carlisle and I laughed.

I lapsed into silence while Carlisle and Bella conversed as he continued to patch her arm up. The events of the day played through my mind, and certain pieces were falling into place. Why my mother had left this morning for a birthday party we hadn't observed in years. She _knew_.

Anger surged through me. Why would she let this happen? What purpose did this serve? I didn't understand her at all. I resolved to demand answers when she came back.

I was outside watching when Edward drove Bella home. I was torn between going to my brother to ask him about Kari's 'dream' that I was sure hadn't at all been a dream; and going home to demand my mother tell me what she thought she was doing.

It was a few minutes before I settled on waiting at home for Mother. She could probably answer both my questions.

* * *

_~*~* Author's Note: Sorry it took a while to post this. I've been trying to keep one chapter ahead, but then I forget how easily I get distracted when I'm not pressured at all to write. : /_

_I hope I did the birthday party scene justice, but I don't know. I didn't want it to be boring with stuff you've already read before in it. _

_Anyways, review incentive is a nice picture of Kit's fire dance. I like how it turned out, so review so you can see it! XD _

_Much thanks to my betas Leon, TRD, and my sister Serrith. I 3 you guys. I don't give these guys enough credit in my author's notes._

_Hope to see you all next chapter! :D  
_

_-Pyroth ~*~*  
_


	27. Sick Day

I was almost completely certain that Ian knew something was wrong when I got into his car to go to school. I smiled cheerfully at him anyways.

"Good morning."

Ian frowned at me for a moment before sighing, "Get back inside, Kari. It's obvious you're sick."

"I am not sick. It's just allergies."

"Kari, it's exactly the same thing I had yesterday, isn't it? I told you not to come over," Ian muttered.

"And I didn't listen. Just like I'm not listening now." I folded my arms stubbornly. "Let's go before we're late."

Ian turned off the engine. "_I'm _going to be late. You are staying home in bed where you belong."

I glared at him and he ignored me as he stared passively out the windshield. He was serious, he was prepared to wait until I agreed to leave the car. Even if it meant he'd miss the whole school day.

I gave up after about fifteen minutes. I wasn't as patient as him, not when my body ached all over and my head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton.

Wordlessly I stepped out of the car and slammed the door before storming back up the walk to my house. I turned at the door to stick my tongue out at him, but he just smiled and waved at me.

Annoyed, I went inside and slammed the door again. Why did I have to get sick today? I had to find out why Damian was avoiding me. I had planned on asking Kit, but now I couldn't if I wasn't at school.

He had shown up to Biology alright yesterday, but he hadn't talked much. He disappeared right after class too, and didn't show up in History. I might have just been imagining him avoiding me, he could have been sick, but I still felt like I was being avoided.

I walked into the kitchen and plopped my back pack on the table. Grandma had already left for the convention center where all the other seniors gathered during the day.

I went to the fridge and laid my head against the freezer door while I tried to think of what I was going to do all day. The cold metal door felt good on my warm forehead. Ian was right, I was probably too sick to be at school.

Making up my mind, I grabbed my back pack and went upstairs. I dropped my back pack by the door to my room, and changed into my extra comfortable, warm, fuzzy pajamas.

I was going to be a couch potato today. I was going to grab a box of tissues and a bag of snack food from the kitchen, and I was going to lie on the couch and watch a movie until I fell asleep.

At least, that had been my plan until I reached the kitchen and spotted something out the window that made me almost drop the box of tissues in my hands. In the tree outside the window was a black cat.

I ducked back out of the kitchen and sat down on the floor in the hall; I needed a moment to sort out my thoughts. That had startled me. I had almost convinced myself that what had happened the other night had all been a dream.

The scratch on the hand could easily have been from somewhere else; but to believe my lab partner was some demon-cat thing? That was practically admitting to insanity.

I sat there for a while, trying to figure out what to do. I could just ignore it, pretend I'm just seeing things; but I didn't think I could handle that. To never know what had been real? That in itself could drive me insane. If I weren't insane already.

I decided I'd go outside and see for myself what was going on. It could just be a stray cat. I went back upstairs to put on shoes and grabbed my jacket on the way out the door.

It was cold outside, and I pulled my jacket tight as I stepped outside. The cat was still in the tree and it looked like it was sleeping. I tried to step out quietly, but the porch was made of old planks of wood that groaned loudly sometimes when I stepped on them.

My foot managed to find one of the louder ones and the cat suddenly jerked awake. The movement had been oddly fast, too. One moment the cat had been resting peacefully; the next, it was sitting up straight, staring at me.

I froze instinctively, and waited to see what it would do. I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to do; how was I supposed to tell if this cat were different from any other stray? Talk to it?

It only stayed for a moment before turning to scurry back into the trees, and I made a snap decision. A stupid decision. I tried to run after it, forgetting momentarily my lack of any physical ability.

As my foot stepped off the porch, my foot landed wrong on the grass, and I felt searing pain shoot through my ankle as I twisted it. Badly. I cried out in pain as I braced myself for impact with the ground.

The impact never came; instead I felt two powerful arms catch me and lift me up. I stared up in surprise at Damian's face as he carefully carried me inside. He avoided my gaze as he stepped in the doorway and paused inside uncertainly.

"The couch is fine, in the living room," I said through clenched teeth. My foot really hurt, and I didn't want to be jostled by the stairs.

He nodded and took me into the living room where he set me down on the couch gently. I grabbed his arm when he moved to step away, though. "You're not leaving, are you?"

He stared down at me in surprise, but shook his head, "No, I was going to get something cold for your ankle to reduce the swelling."

"Oh. Okay. There are ice packs in the freezer." I let go reluctantly, and he went to the kitchen. I went to work taking off my shoes before he came back.

I bit my tongue as I carefully loosened the laces of my swollen foot as far as they would go, and gently slid it off my foot. I moved the shoe wrong, and bumped the foot. I hissed in pain and a hand grabbed my wrist to prevent me from trying again.

"Please, stop hurting yourself. Let me do that," Damian told me. I felt my cheeks go red as I pulled back and let him take the shoe off and place the ice pack on it. I sighed in relief as the cold numbed the pain.

"If you're alright now, I should go," I heard him say, and I sat upright again.

"No, don't go!" I protested, alarmed. I still hadn't gotten confirmation of my sanity. "Please? It's no fun being home alone. And now I can't even get off the couch to put in a movie or get food."

"You... want me to stay?" he asked uncertainly.

"Yes! I can't exactly do anything with my foot like this. Unless... unless you don't want to stay. That's okay, I could call Ian's mom and tell her I tripped coming down the stairs or something," I told him frowning down at my lap.

"I'll stay." He sat down on the couch next to me and I sighed in relief. I didn't have to spend the whole day alone. Yay.

It was odd, I would have expected it to awkward having him here with me; but instead it felt... nice. Like having him here next to me was the most natural thing in the world. Either that, or I was sicker than I thought and was delirious.

I glanced up at his face and was surprised to see him so tired. He looked like he might pass out at any moment.

"Are you sick too?" I asked. Did I get him sick? Should we be sitting next to each other if I were sick?

He frowned. "No, I'm not sick. I don't think I'm capable of getting sick."

"Oh, you look tired," I commented.

"I am tired," he sighed. "Kit's right, I need to go eat something."

"There's food in the kitchen," I offered, wishing I could get up to get him something and not be stuck on the couch. He shook his head though.

"No, I can't eat that stuff right now. It's alright, I'll eat later tonight," he assured me.

"Oh no you will not eat later tonight. You will go out and eat right now."

We both looked over in surprise to see Kit standing in the doorway, glaring at Damian.

"And after you get back, we're going to have a nice little discussion about what's been going on lately. It's all gotten monstrously complicated and I just can't handle it on my own anymore." She put a hand to her head and she looked so tired.

"You haven't tried talking to Naka or your blood suckers yet?" Damian answered, and I could sense a bit of sarcasm in his tone.

Kit dropped her hand and glared at him again. "Eat first, Damian."

Damian frowned as he got up, glancing between me and Kit.

"I'll stay here with Kari," Kit told him before pointing to the door. "Go. Eat. Now."

Damian nodded before heading for the door, and Kit sighed heavily as she came to sit next to me. She looked tired too.

"Bad day?" I asked. I wasn't really expecting an answer.

* * *

_Author's Note: Phew, now THAT took longer than expected to write. Sorry for the delays, and hope you guys like the new chapter. Not my best chapter, I don't think, but it will do for now. Bah, I suck so bad at romance..._

_Thanks to TRDancer for the quick beta.  
_

_And thanks to all you for reading my little diddy. You guys are awesome. I'll whip up a review incentive picture after I'm not so sick and tired. Maybe you guys can even request something you would like to see me draw in a review._

_Thank you again,_

_-Pyroth  
_


	28. Imouto

**KIT:**

"Bad day?" I heard Kari ask.

"Yes!" I answered vehemently. "My family is missing, and my friends are avoiding me. At least I can stop worrying so much about Damian now."

I had had a very busy night and morning. I'd stayed up pretty late to face my mother when she got back, but eventually I had to go to sleep for school the next day. I would have talked to her that morning except she and the rest of my family never came home. It was unsettling.

To make it worse, when I got to school, Edward and Bella were avoiding me. Or at least Edward was, but Bella always followed him. I hadn't seen Alice at all either.

Then Damian didn't show up, and Ian arrived late without Kari. I got all worried and came out here to see what was wrong, and they were cuddling. Seriously, that had been the first piece of good news I'd had all day; and I would have left them alone if not for everything else that had happened. I might have been being selfish, but I really needed my big brother at that moment.

"Your family disappeared?" Kari asked. "Is that normal?"

I paused to consider that. "Not really. It has happened before, but I was too young to be left behind, usually I would disappear with them. I guess I'm old enough to be on my own now."

"Oh. So... are all your family members dragons?" Kari questioned, taking me by surprise. I looked at her with wide eyes. How did she... did Damian tell her? Probably. How much? Was I supposed to say more?

"Uh... no... uhm, what has Damian told you about our family?" I needed to know more before I said anything else.

"Well, I kind of figured out that last night hadn't been a dream. He told me a lot of stuff then, about being a dragon, but there's still a lot I don't know. Sorry, I don't mean to pry," she told me glancing down at her sprained ankle

"Hmm... I don't think I should tell you anything Damian hasn't. No offense, but it's not really my place to say anything. We could watch a movie while we wait for my brother, he'll probably take a while. He'd better take a while," I growled.

"What movie should we watch?" Kari asked, looking at the shelf of DVD's.

"I don't know," I confessed, shrugging. "I've never watched a movie before. What do you suggest?" I could feel my curiosity increasing as I went over to look through the shelf of movies. I didn't know what they were about, but some of them looked really interesting.

"I would rather just fall asleep to a chick-flick, but I don't know if your brother would like that very much," Kari answered.

"Chick-flick?" I repeated, unfamiliar with the word. "And I'm sure Damian will be fine with whatever you pick."

"A chick-flick is typically a romantic movie that appeals more to girls than boys. Ever After is a good one," Kari suggested.

I scanned the titles and quickly pulled out the movie labled 'Ever After'. It didn't look very interesting. There was a picture of a girl on the cover.

Shrugging, I took it over to the TV and listened to Kari as she told me how to put the disc in the player. I sat down next to her on the couch and watched as Kari started the movie.

Damian came back a half hour later and I didn't even notice. I was kneeling rigidly on the floor, my eyes unblinkingly on the screen. It was just so fascinating to watch a story unfold before my eyes. I mean, I'd seen plays before, but this was so much more realistic.

It also took my mind off the stressful week I'd been having. Unfortunately, it all came back to me when the movie suddenly froze and I turned to Kari to see what had happened. Damian was standing over her, looking at me expectantly. I sighed. Right, family and friends were missing, it was time to deal with that.

"We should probably speak in private...," I started.

"Here is fine."

I scowled, "I don't mind if you're sharing our secrets, but there are some secrets that aren't ours to-"

"The Cullens are vampires," Damian interrupted me turning to Kari. "They are dangerous and to be avoided whenever possible."

"Damian!" I gasped, my eyes widening in shock. I couldn't believe he'd just said that! beside him, Kari was blinking in surprise.

"Vampires?" Kari spoke uncertainly. "Like, blood-sucking vampires?"

"Yes," Damian assured her, then turned to me. "It's important that she be aware of the dangers around her."

I growled, glaring dangerously at him. If we'd been in a less breakable place I'd have tackled him and tried to punch his face. Key word being 'try'. Typically our little spats ended with him pinning me to the ground in less than five seconds.

"That was completely uncalled for. They keep our secret, Damian, we should keep theirs as well," I scolded.

"It's already done, Kit. Now, tell me what's been happening," he urged, calmly.

I seethed a bit more, but took a deep breath and calmed myself. There was no use lecturing him, he wouldn't listen. I could tell he felt completely justified in his decision, not that I could really blame him. I didn't want to keep secrets from Kari either.

"I think," I began reluctantly, "it started last night at Bella's birthday party."

I saw Damian stiffen, and I was somewhat satisfied to see it was his turn to glare at me. "You... went to the leeches' house? Alone?" he demanded.

"I did," I replied, meeting his glare evenly. "Mother okayed it," I added, chickening out a little. I didn't like my brother being disappointed in me. It's not like I really did anything wrong. It wasn't my fault Bella had been hurt and everything was all messed up... right?

"I thought you were smarter than that, Kit," Damian answered, making my guilt double; and in turn flaring up my anger. What right did he have to make me feel guilty!?

"Shut up! At least _I'm _not divulging other people's secrets! If I did, there are quite a few of your secrets I could tell," I snarled at him, then turned to Kari. "Did he tell you what he was doing here? Why he's been at your house?"

"Kit...," Damian growled a soft but very threatening warning. Yeah, I could easily see this argument coming to blows at any moment. Poor Kari looked so uncomfortable.

I forced my temper into check at took several breaths before speaking again. "Sorry, I'm getting off topic. As I was saying, at the party, something went wrong and Bella got injured. Jasper, the dangerous looking one, frenzied and almost killed her."

I could see my brother go pale as I described what happened. I didn't realize how close I'd been to death or serious injury until now. I felt guilty for making him worry, and I could tell he was having a hard time not interrupting me to lecture. I hurried on with my story.

"They managed to force Jasper from the house, and most of the other Cullens left as well except for Carlisle, the leader, and Edward. Alice was with us for a bit, but eventually had to step out while Carlisle was stitching up Bella's arm. After everything was cleaned up and Bella was being sent home, I could kind of feel like something was different. I think Edward was upset about something. "

I paused to consider it for a moment, but shrugged and continued. "I went home to demand answers from Mom, because of course she knew. That's why she didn't let the twins come. Why they suddenly disappeared to Tiana's birthday party. Except, they never came home. I went to bed and woke up to an empty cave. I even checked the house, nothing!"

I realized I'd started pacing and stopped, turning to Damian. "I even went to go check on the Cullen's house, to see if they'd seen her or if she'd taken the twins there to play. The house is empty, Damian. No furniture, no people, nothing."

"Leeches are not people," Damian corrected me. I had to force myself to ignore it or risk getting into another heated argument. "And you shouldn't have gone there alone. Still, Naka being gone is not surprising. I've known she was up to something for a long time."

"She knew that this was all going to happen, didn't she?" I asked, reluctant to believe it. I knew that Mother sometimes had to let bad things happen, but that could have easily ended with Bella dead! I just couldn't believe it.

"Most likely," Damian replied, his voice thick with contempt. "She's insane, Kit. This is not the first time she's done something like this. Remember Silva? She all but admitted guilt."

"She... she would never have let that happen, Damian!" I snapped at him. How dare he accuse Mom of killing our sister? Admittedly, I didn't remember much of back then, but Mother loved her children! She wouldn't let them die.

"Naka is playing with powers that shouldn't be messed with, and she knows it. She's not as in control of the situation as she would have you believe," Damian growled.

I didn't have an answer for him, I didn't have any idea of whether he was right or wrong; and I refused to admit that I was considering his point. Instead, I glared at him defiantly.

To my surprise, it was Kari who broke our silence. I'd almost forgotten she was still sitting there. Chagrin soothed my anger almost instantly, how could I forget about someone I thought as my friend? Curse that Ian, he would not be right!

"Why are you so quick to condemn your mother?" she asked sadly, "I don't pretend to know what's going on; but, from what I understand, shouldn't you be trying to aide her instead of criticizing her? I mean, if what she's doing is so hard for her, and the consequences of her failure so dire, why make it harder? You should help instead; or, at least, that's what I think."

The silence that followed was deafening as we both stared at Kari in shock. I was at a complete loss for words, and I was sure it would take even longer for Damian to recover. I'd never seen someone put him in his place quite like that before. Without violence? Completely unheard of!

"Uhm," Kari murmured, shifting uncomfortably beneath our gazes. "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. Sorry. I just get so frustrated when kids get mad at their parents... I'll stop talking now."

I crossed the distance between us in an instant and wrapped her in the biggest hug I could manage that wouldn't hurt her. "That was perfect! Just what I needed, thanks!"

"Gah! Uh... you're welcome?" Kari answered uncertainly.

Damian shifted his gaze to frown down at the floor, and I decided that it was about time for me to leave. Shame, I would miss the movie; but Kari had a shot at possibly helping my brother to forgive my mother and my being here would only get in the way.

"Well," I spoke up before the silence could turn awkward, "I'd better get back to school, I've already missed two periods, and I'm hoping to catch Edward at lunch to answer some questions."

I released Kari and walked toward the back door, but paused at the kitchen as a sudden thought occurred to me. I turned back frowning at the two of them. "The two of you had better behave yourselves while I'm gone, alright?"

Kari turned bright red, and Damian's head shot up to growl at me but I was already gone. I chuckled lightly to myself as I shifted to the form of a crow so I could get to school quicker. For once, Edward was going to give me answers; even if I had to pin him to the ground and beat them out of him.

* * *

_**Author's Note:** _

_Such a short chapter. I meant it to be longer. : / Sorry. I had fun writing that last part, though. It's fun to write Kit and Damian fighting. :)_

_I'm also sorry for taking so long to update. I kind of got wrapped up in my other story and neglected this one a bit. :( I'll try to balance my time between the two better._

_Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read my little story. I hope you guys enjoyed it, and I hope I'll see you all next chapter. :) (Thanks to TRD for a quick beta of this chapter too. Look up TRDancer for some good twilight stories if you have some free time.)  
_

_-Pyroth_


	29. Prepare for Trouble! And Make it Double!

**29 - DAMIAN**

I stared after my sister, the edge of my anger quickly fading in the silence that followed. It worried me that Kari and I might be in disagreement over something. My anger at Naka was deep and unforgiving. Until now, I'd thought it to be completely justified.

"Uhm," I heard Kari start hesitantly, and I turned to look at her. "I don't mean to pry, but do you mind if I ask who 'Silva' is?"

"Silva was my older sister," I answered. "She died. Kit barely remembers her, or how she died. I do. Her death is not a pleasant memory."

"Oh, I'm sorry." She looked away from me, biting her lip nervously.

"It's alright," I tried to assure her. "It happened a very long time ago."

"And... you think your mom did it? No wonder you don't like her."

"I don't _think_ she did it. I _know_she did," I clarified, my tone hardening unconsciously. "I was there when my sister died. There was a fight between Naka and her, and it ended with Silva in flames."

"That sounds awful. Why were they fighting?"

I hesitated to answer this as I only recently began to understand what had happened. I had been too young at the time to know, but recent conversations with Naka had begun to reveal more about it.

"I think, somehow, Silva had a mate, and that mate died. That would be my best guess as to why Silva went insane and began killing everything in sight. My sister disliked violence, she thought it was a barbaric way to solve problems."

"Her mate? Like her husband or boyfriend?"

I shook my head. "They never got that far. Or, at least, she'd never brought him home to show the family. I think they'd only just met."

"Wait, if they'd just met, then how could they be considered mates? That doesn't sound like it would drive someone insane if they'd only just met," Kari frowned. She was staring up at the ceiling with a scowl while I tried to figure out how to explain it to her.

"It's different for dragons. We can meet some person for the first time and instantly have feelings for them. Usually it takes a bit longer, or so Naka says," I spoke carefully. "It's a very powerful bond. I could see a dragon losing their sanity if they lost a mate."

"That doesn't sound fair," Kari said. "To have no choice but to love someone you just met enough to lose your sanity? That's terrible! What if the other person didn't love you back?"

I shrugged, not really having an answer for her. I was dreading having to find that answer out for myself. "Probably step out of the way and let them find their own happiness. If that's even possible."

"And be miserable the rest of your life? What kind of a choice is that?" She was upset, and I was upset because she was upset.

Logically, her point made sense. It wasn't fair that I was bound to this frail human girl. However, I didn't think of it that way. It didn't feel like the emotions I had for her were baseless. There was a reason I felt so strongly about her, I just didn't know it yet.

"So...," Kari started, "this finding your mate thing, has it happened to you?"

It was an inevitable question that I wasn't looking forward to answering, but I didn't try to avoid it. "Yes."

I heard her sigh, and looked up. She looked sad? Why?

"Do I know them?"

"Yes," I answered, keeping my tone even. She needed to know. "It's you."

Time seemed to slow as I waited patiently for her reaction. She would need a little bit to think, and I was too anxious to sit still, so I got up to get her a pillow and blanket. She was going to be on that couch for a while, and I would do what I could to keep her comfortable.

When I returned, it didn't look like she had moved at all. Her reaction finally came when I went to place the pillow.

"Are you sure?" she asked, looking up at me with a frown.

"Very sure. It's not something I could be mistaken about," I answered as I began unfolding the blanket.

"Is there a way to remove it?"

I paused in the process of placing the blanket over her. I felt dread growing in the pit of my stomach. "I don't know. I could ask Naka, if you want."

"If _I_want?" she asked, frowning. This was bad. She didn't feel the same way about me, and I was afraid I was scaring her.

"I'm sorry. I'm upsetting you. I'll leave," I told her, turning. Maybe giving her some time to think it over might be better. I would have appreciated the same courtesy, given the chance.

"Leave? No, don't-," Kari started to say something but stopped. I turned back to her, worried. She was biting her lip, frowning again. She was unhappy still. Could I do nothing right?

It looked like she had more to say, so I waited. I would probably just make it worse, anyway. After a moment, she sighed and went on. "Are you leaving because you want to, or because it's what you think I want?"

I paused as I struggled to find an answer for that. I was going to reply when there was a knock at the door. That was odd. I should have heard someone approaching. I didn't smell anything either.

"Just a second," Kari called out as she started to get up. On that foot? I wasn't going to stand for that. I put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her back down.

"Please don't hurt yourself. I'll get it," I assured her. I paused just long enough to make sure she was staying down, before heading to the entrance way. There was still no scent as I got closer, very unusual.

I opened the door carefully, prepared for some sort of trouble. I was not prepared for what I found.

"Aha! I knew it!"

"Shut up!"

"I told you he would be here, Kia!"

"Agh! How was I supposed to know our brother turned into a human-loving pansy."

They got about that much conversation in before I grabbed them both and pulled them inside, quickly closing the door behind them.

"What are you two doing here?" I demanded, holding the twins at eye level so I could glare at the both of them. They cringed and seemed reluctant to answer.

"W-well...," Kia started.

"S-staying with mom got boring," Jaden put in.

"So, w-we came back."

"Yeah, you and Kit are way more fun!"

"Except you weren't at home..."

"So we had to come looking for you..."

"And now we're here!"

They fell silent as I continued to glare at them. At least that explained the lack of scent. One of the twins' favored spells was an anti-tracking spell. It masked their scent, their footsteps... anything that might leave a trail. It was probably the only way they could have gotten away from Naka.

"You can't stay here. It's not safe," I spoke after a moment.

"Safe?" Jaden asked, incredulous.

"We're not babies!" Kia protested.

"We can take care of ourselves."

"It's not _you_I'm concerned about," I growled. They stared back at me in confusion.

"Damian," I heard Kari call from the other room, "Who is it?" I took a breath and threw a glare at Kia.

"You, behave." She glared back at me but didn't argue as I shifted my attention to Jaden. "And you, absolutely _no_ _acid_. I want you completely human. Can you handle that?"

I knew when I said it that it would touch a nerve with him. Jaden had always been self-conscience of his acidic nature. He glared at me, but I could sense the heat change from cold to warm blood as he complied. I was caught completely off guard by the lance of pain that shot through my other arm as Kia sank her fangs into my hand.

I snarled, dropping them both and they both dodged quickly around me into the room Kari was in. "Stupid Damian!" Kia shouted back at me, an unusual amount of hurt in her voice. I had no idea what had set her off, but I didn't stop to think about it. I had to follow them to make sure nothing happened to Kari.

The twins stopped short of the couch, looking at Kari with mirrored expressions. They didn't look very impressed. I came to stand behind Kari, shooting them warning looks.

"These are my siblings, Kiandra and Jaden," I told her. "They... are not usually allowed near humans. They can be dangerous."

"Dangerous? They're adorable."

A look flickered between the twins so quickly I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't already been looking at them. Instantly their sulky faces evaporated and were replaced by wide-eyed innocence. I tensed, barely suppressing a growl.

This was going to go badly... I should have just tossed them out the moment I saw them. However, that would have meant leaving them on their own. I wanted to send them on to Kit for her to deal with, but she was at school. Here was best place for them unless I could somehow locate Naka and ship them off to her.

"Adorable?" Jaden questioned, with a small carefully crafted pout.

"Hear that, Damain?" Kia said, shooting me a significant look before boldly striding over to take a seat on the couch next to Kari. "We're... adorable."

Red flashed across my vision, and I suppressed my fury harshly. The look on my face must have betrayed some of my emotion; Jaden took one glance and promptly decided that sitting on the floor was better than joining Kia. He'd always been the smarter of the two.

"Are there any other brothers or sisters of yours I don't know about?" Kari asked, looking up at me.

I shook my head in reply, not taking my eyes off Kia. "Kiandra and Jaden are the youngest."

"Really? How old are they?"

"I'm almost five and a half," Kia announced, proudly, with Jaden nodding agreement.

"Five? You guys look older than that, I would have guessed seven or eight," Kari commented, looking between the two of them in confusion. The twins both brightened, taking it as a compliment, and I sighed.

"Kia is speaking in decades. She and Jaden are both fifty-three years old," I informed Kari before turning to Kia. "Humans count in years."

"Oh." Kia's face turned down in a scowl of disappointment.

"Fifty-three?" Kari asked, glancing between the twins incredulously. "How old are you, then?" she asked, turning to me.

"One hundred and fifty-seven years," I answered, watching her reaction carefully.

"Oh, wow. Uh... that is... a lot older than I was expecting." Kari sputtered, biting her lip. I wasn't entirely sure if that was a good reaction or bad one.

Kia snorted, "He's not _that_old."

"Yeah," Jaden spoke up. "Mom and Dad are a lot older."

"I see," Kari replied, staring down at the blanket thoughtfully. She looked up after only a moment, and smiled at Kia. "You're cute kids, I bet you make cute little dragons too."

"Of course we do," Kia commented, cutting off Jaden who was making a face and looked like he wanted to disagree. I shot a warning glance at Kia.

"Don't even think about it, Kia," I growled.

Kia rolled her eyes. "I wasn't going to do anything! Yeesh, you're always so cranky."

I grimaced. They were getting bored, I could see it. "I should probably get these two home. Before they break something."

Kari sighed. "Okay."

"What?"

"No way!"

"What did we do wrong?"

"We were being good!"

I ignored the series of protests from my siblings. "You going to be okay?" I asked Kari.

She shrugged. "Sure, just get me the remote, a glass of water, and a bag of chips and I should be fine until grandma comes back."

I nodded and went to procure the items in question. "I'll come back after school," I told her as I handed her them. "If... that's okay?" Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the twins exchange a look, but continued to ignore them.

"Uhm... yeah, sure. I mean, if you want to. Don't feel obligated to come because-"

"Ugh!" Kia groaned, hopping down from the couch.

"Take us home already!" Jaden added, rolling his eyes as he stood up from the floor.

"Seriously, you guys are disgusting," Kia muttered.

"If we wanted to see this..."

"We would have stayed with Mom and Dad!" They both marched out the kitchen back door without a backwards glance. I looked down at Kari and grimaced. Her face was bright red.

"I'd better go after them." _And kill them,_ I added in my mind. She nodded, and I followed my siblings. To the forest. Where no one would hear their screams.

* * *

_ Disclaimer - I don't own any of the Twilight characters or world, so please don't sue me, yada yada yada..._

_**Author's Note:**_

_Sorry I took so long to update. I'm a terrible terrible person for making you wait but I hope this humble gift of a new chapter appeases my ever so wonderful and patient fans. XS Even though this chapter sucks, and I deeply apologize for the horridly rushed botch job. :S  
_

_It also hasn't been edited yet, because I can't seem to find my editors... one of them moved to Japan. How dare she just up and leave like that? Without taking me with her? ;_; Anyway, thanks for sticking in there, I'll try to get another chapter out soon._

_Review Incentive: After I wake up tomorrow, and after all the Easter stuff, I'll write up a little side story thing that I thought of while writing this chapter that had me in fits of giggles. Review, and I'll reply with the bit I write up. :D_

_Love you all, review or not, Py._


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